A Ugandan court will deliver its verdict on Tuesday in the trial of Thomas Kwoyelo, a former commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
Kwoyelo, who is accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during a 20-year conflict in northern Uganda, is the first high-profile LRA soldier to be tried for such offenses in Uganda.
Kwoyelo faces 78 charges, including murder, rape, enslavement, torture, and kidnapping. The trial is being conducted by the International Crimes Division (ICD) of the High Court in Gulu, a city in northern Uganda.
Kwoyelo denies all charges, on grounds that he was abducted by the LRA at the age of 12.
The LRA, led by Joseph Kony, was founded in the 1980s with the goal of establishing a regime based on the Ten Commandments.
The group’s violent rebellion against President Yoweri Museveni resulted in over 100,000 deaths and the abduction of 60,000 children.
The LRA’s terror spread beyond Uganda to neighboring countries like Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and the Central African Republic.
Kony remains wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for serious crimes, including rape and the forced recruitment of child soldiers.
Kwoyelo was arrested in March 2009 in the DRC during a military operation against LRA rebels who had fled Uganda. His trial initially began in July 2011 but was halted when the Supreme Court ordered his release, citing that other fighters had been granted amnesty after surrendering. The prosecution successfully appealed this decision, and the trial resumed in April 2023.
Human Rights Watch has emphasised the importance of this trial, stating that accountability for LRA victims has been insufficient. The charges against Kwoyelo include attacks in Kilak County, Amuru District, between 1987 and 2005, for which he allegedly had command responsibility.
Thomas Kwoyelo’s lawyer maintains that his client is innocent and is awaiting the court’s ruling.
The LRA’s activities diminished after being driven out of Uganda, but the group continued to operate in parts of the DRC, Central African Republic, South Sudan, and Sudan.
In 2021, another former LRA commander, Dominic Ongwen, was sentenced by the ICC to 25 years in prison for similar crimes. The LRA’s civil war effectively ended in 2006 with a peace process, but Kony has remained elusive and has not been captured.