International Criminal Court to examine accusations of war crimes against elusive militia leader Kony

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is set to hold a hearing to determine the credibility of the accusations against Joseph Kony, the notorious leader of Uganda's most vicious rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

Kony, born in September 1961, has been elusive for nearly two decades, rarely meeting outsiders. In a 2006 interview, he claimed he is "not a terrorist." However, the LRA, which he founded in the 1980s, was infamous for gruesome practices such as drinking victim's blood and punitive amputations.

The LRA rebellion resulted in at least 100,000 deaths and 60,000 child abductions. Children in the LRA were forced to commit acts of violence, including murder and rape. Among the most heinous acts attributed to the LRA are cases where fighters snatched a baby girl, threw her into a river, and then attacked the abductee with a machete. Abducted girls were also used as sexual slaves, including by Kony himself.

In April, the court confirmed the award of 52 million euros to victims of another top LRA commander, Dominic Ongwen, who is serving a 25-year jail sentence. Kony, on the other hand, is facing 39 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the ICC.

Prosecutors argue that holding the hearing will expedite any potential trial if Kony were arrested. However, the ICC's rules forbid trials in absentia, meaning the case will not proceed unless Kony is found and brought to The Hague.

The arrest warrant against Kony, issued in 2005, was the first ever issued by the ICC. In 2012, a campaign to bring Kony to justice published a viral YouTube video that got over 100 million views in a few days. Barack Obama deployed around 100 special forces to hunt him down, but the mission ended in 2017 with no trace of Kony.

Defense counsel for Kony has called for the hearing to be scrapped, describing it as an "enormous expense of time, money, and effort for no benefit at all." However, hearing the accusations against Kony in the global court will bring some sense of justice for the victims, according to prosecutors.

Organizations like the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) are involved in advocating for international criminal law cases, though they are not specifically mentioned for Kony's case. As of now, there is no specific German non-state organization or institution mentioned in the context of pursuing charges against Kony.

The threat posed by the LRA has since dramatically decreased. Nevertheless, the upcoming hearing at the ICC serves as a reminder of the atrocities committed under Kony's leadership and the pursuit of justice for the victims.