‘Insensitive’ Justice! Perceptions of Trial Justice in the Case of the Prosecutor vs Dominic Ongwen

Project: Beyond War Compensation

In February 2021, the Pre-Trial Chamber IX Judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) delivered a verdict on Dominic Ongwen, a former child abductee and later commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). For nearly 28 years, Dominic Ongwen, who was abducted at 9 years, grew in the rank and file of LRA and become one of its senior top commanders. The LRA conflict has been one of the most brutal conflicts experienced in Uganda’s history. Heinous atrocities were committed by the belligerents during the conflict. However, following a referral of the LRA top commanders by the Uganda Government to the ICC, Ongwen and other top LRA commanders were indicted by the Court in 2005, three years after its establishment. Following alleged threat to his life from his commander, Joseph Kony, Ongwen surrendered to the Seleka rebels in the Central African Republic (CAR) in January 2015. The Seleka rebels then…

_{Image: Reintegration of War-affected Children in Northern Uganda. inmediahk (CC BY-NC 4.0)}