By Frank Kamuntu
The International Criminal Court (“ICC” or “Court”) has issued a call for expression of interest for Counsel to represent the rights and interests of Joseph Kony during the confirmation of charges proceedings before the Court.
ICC says lawyers interested in being appointed as counsel for Mr Kony should submit an expression of interest by 16 May 2024 at 17.30 Central European Time latest.
‘Kony is Still Innocent’
ICC says all its suspects, including Mr. Kony, are presumed innocent until proven guilty, and they are entitled to legal representation when appearing before the Court.
”Because the ICC has not received any valid power of attorney from counsel claiming to represent Mr Kony and given that Mr Kony is considered to be a person who cannot be found, the judges of Pre-Trial Chamber II will appoint a Counsel to act on Mr Kony’s behalf, following a call for expression of interest and assessment of the applications by a panel.”
Background
On 4 March 2024, Pre-Trial Chamber II issued a decision on the Prosecutor’s request to hold confirmation of charges hearing in the case against Joseph Kony in the suspect’s absence, should he not appear, and set the date for this hearing, to commence on 15 October 2024.
The Warrant of Arrest for Joseph Kony was issued under seal on 8 July 2005, amended on 27 September 2005 and unsealed on 13 October 2005.
He is suspected of 12 counts of crimes against humanity (murder, enslavement, sexual enslavement, rape, inhumane acts of inflicting serious bodily injury and suffering) and 21 counts of war crimes (murder, cruel treatment of civilians, intentionally directing an attack against a civilian population, pillaging, inducing rape, and forced enlistment of children) allegedly committed in 2003 and 2004 in northern Uganda.
On 6 February 2015, Pre-Trial Chamber II severed the proceedings against Dominic Ongwen from the Kony et al. case following his surrender to the ICC custody on 16 January 2015.
This case also involved Vincent Otti, Raska Lukwiya and Okot Odhiambo, but proceedings against them were terminated due to their passing.
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