THE HAGUE, Netherlands
A lawyer for a Ugandan rebel commander serving a
25-year sentence for dozens of war crimes and crimes against humanity told
appeals judges Monday that his client was found guilty by an International
Criminal Court trail panel that cherry-picked evidence to ensure he was
convicted.Dominic Ongwen, a senior commander in the brutal Ugandan rebel group Lord's Resistance Army
Prosecution lawyers responded that Dominic Ongwen
was “properly and fairly convicted” after an exhaustive trial that heard
evidence from 179 prosecution and defense witnesses and assessed more than 5,000
items of evidence.
Defense lawyer Krispus Ayena Odongo was speaking on
the first day of an appeal hearing at the global court for Ongwen who was
convicted last year on 61 charges for his role as a senior commander in the
Lord’s Resistance Army, the shadowy Ugandan rebel group led by fugitive warlord
Joseph Kony.
Judges in May sentenced Ongwen to 25 years for a
litany of crimes that include murder, rape, forced marriage, forced pregnancy
and using child soldiers.
But Odongo is seeking his acquittal and release,
arguing Ongwen did not get a fair hearing.
“The trial court did not base its decision and
judgment on the entire proceedings. The Trial Chamber decided to cherry-pick
what was helpful in making sure that they attained conviction,” Odongo told a
five-judge appeals panel that is expected to take months to issue its decision
after public hearings this week.
“It appears that the court came with a
predetermined mind to convict Dominic Ongwen,” he added.
Ongwen’s lawyers have listed 90 grounds of appeal alleging
legal, factual and procedural errors in the original verdict, Presiding Judge
Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza said as the hearing opened Monday.
Prosecution counsel Helen Brady said there was
little in the defense appeal that was not already ruled on during the trial.
“Mr. Ongwen has largely repeated his trial
arguments, but he fails to show that the trial chamber erred in law, in fact,
or procedurally. His appeal should be dismissed and his convictions upheld,”
she said.
Throughout his trial, Ongwen’s defense lawyers
portrayed him as a victim of the LRA’s brutality — abducted on his way to
school as a 9-year-old and traumatized by his experiences in the group’s
violent insurgency.
Odongo said Monday that following his abduction he
had essentially been enslaved by Kony.
“He provided slave labor and therefore he should
not be punished twice,” he told judges.
Founded by Kony, the Lord’s Resistance Army began
as an antigovernment rebellion in Uganda. When the military forced the group
out of Uganda in 2005, the rebels scattered across parts of central Africa.
Kony remains on the run despite concerted efforts
to track him down. His case gained international notoriety in 2012 when the
U.S.-based advocacy group Invisible Children made a video highlighting the
LRA’s crimes that went viral.
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