LRA victim’s lawyer dies in Gulu hotel room

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT  |  A Legal officer representing the Lord’s Resistance Army – LRA war victims at The Hauge based International Criminal Court (ICC) has died in his hotel room in Gulu town. Jane Adong Anywar, 64, a resident of Kampala died at Abola Lapok Hotel along Olya Road located in Pece Division of Gulu Municipality on Monday night. 

A case of her sudden passing was reported at Gulu Central Police Station – CPS on Tuesday by the Hotel manager, Justine Okello. A Police report indicates that Adwong was working with ICC as a legal officer for war victims in the trial of Dominic Ongwen, the former commander of LRA’s Sinia Brigade who is battling 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Jimmy Patrick Okema, the Aswa River Region Police Spokesperson disclosed that a team of detectives visited the scene on Tuesday and took the body to St. Mary’s Hospital Lacor for postmortem where doctors established that the lawyer died of cardiac arrest.

Doctors explained that the condition was brought about by enlarged dilated heart or congestive artery and enlarged liver as a result of hypertension or diabetes. Attempts by URN to get a comment from Maria Kamara Mabinti, the ICC Field Outreach Coordinator in Uganda were futile by the time of filing this story. The deceased’s body was handed to his relatives for burial on Tuesday evening.

Approximately 4,000 victims of LRA war have been participating in Ongen’s trial that began in December, 2016.