The defence team for Lord’s Resistance Army(LRA) rebel leader, Joseph Kony has said they are ready for next month’s confirmation of charges hearing.
The Pre-Trial Chamber III of the International Criminal Court set September, 9 as the date to start the hearing of confirmation of charges for Kony in absentia.
A confirmation of charges hearing is a pre-trial proceeding to determine if there's sufficient evidence to proceed to trial on the charges brought by the prosecutor.
It's not a trial but rather a stage to assess whether the evidence presented establishes "substantial grounds to believe" the suspect committed the alleged crimes.
Addressing journalists in Kampala on Thursday, British lawyer, Peter Haynes who was appointed by ICC to represent Kony during the confirmation of charges hearing said he has assembled a team of eight lawyers, two of them from Uganda to handle the session.
“At the end of the process no one is going to be found guilty, no one is to be sent to prison, no one is going to receive compensation. What is happening is not a trial of Joseph Kony but confirmation of charges,” Haynes said.
“You are not going to see anyone give evidence. What you will see is lawyers arguing whether the evidence on paper is good enough to sustain the charges. These are the charges that justified the arrest warrant issued.”
The defence lawyers insisted that even when the charges are confirmed by the ICC, Kony will still be subjected to the arrest warrant and not any punishment.
Haynes also dismissed allegations that he was not legitimately appointed by the International Criminal Court (ICC) as Joseph Kony’s lead counsel.
He further rejected claims that the defence team lacks sufficient understanding of African culture to competently handle the case.
“The aspect of representing somebody who is African…we have covered in this team. Having three counsels (understanding the culture from Kony’s local area) which is a significant proportion. But just understanding somebody's cultural background or the cultural background of community in which these offenses were committed is not to be all and end all .You need to know how to do a case to the ICC. You need to understand the law tactics of conducting a large case. And in my experience, the best way of doing that is having a multicultural team, a team which can, if you like, have attacked the field of events,”Haynes said.
“ And I think we have within this team the right balance of those who understand the local community and those who understand the process of the International Criminal Court. I think I've said this before. I'm not here to defend my own selection. There were 80 other people who applied for this job. I happened to get it, and I'm aware that other people were upset, not just African lawyers, American lawyers were upset about it, French lawyers were upset about it, because they all thought they should not be dropped. It's not my fault. I got it. But in my view, I think we've assembled a team which covers all bases.”
The defence lawyers said ordinarily, they would have interfaced with their client, Joseph Kony to get instructions from him on how to proceed with the case but said this has not been the case since he has never been arrested.
“We would ordinarily be talking to him in detention and getting his input about the charges and generally receiving his instructions. However, we haven’t talked to him. We will however represent his interests,” said Kate Gibson, a co-counsel on Kony’s defence team.
She explained in 2004, the Ugandan government referred Kony to ICC in 2004 prompting the court to investigate allegations of crime
“Uganda’s letter( to ICC) talked about needing assistance of ICC in finding and arresting Joseph Kony. It was the primary reason for the letter. It needed ICC’s help in finding and arrest Kony. Investigators and lawyers in office of prosecutor investigated and found sufficient evidence leading to issue of an arrest warrant in 2005. Since then, the ICC has not succeeded in finding Joseph Kony and despite assistance of US military personnel he remains at large,” Gibson said.
She said, in 2023, after two decades, the ICC prosecutor requested the court to hold the confirmation of charges in Kony’s absence, an application which was granted.
The defence lawyers however insisted that the ICC is not superior to the local courts in Uganda or in any state, noting that the Hague-based court has limited jurisdiction.
The lawyers said ICC’s jurisdiction starts on July, 1 2002 when the Rome Statute was ratified.
“ICC is not superior to domestic courts. It is actually secondary to domestic courts. Ugandan courts are primarily in charge of events that happened locally and that jurisdiction can be exercised any time,”said Christopher Gosnell, one of the members of Kony’s defence team.
According to Lilian Atim, one of the lawyers on the defence team, even after the confirmation of charges by ICC and Kony happens to return to Uganda or surrenders, Ugandan courts can ably try him of the crimes he committed.
She emphasized that not only the ICC can try the warlord but also the International Crimes Division of the High Court in Kampala has the jurisdiction.
“ Uganda has since established an international crimes division which has jurisdiction over all matters and most matters ICC is handling. The crimes handled by ICC can ably be handled by the International Crimes Division here in Uganda . Therefore, it arrested, he can be tried by the International Crimes Division which handles, genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity among others,” Atim said.
