The International Criminal Court (ICC) has maintained that the Confirmation hearing for the former LRA Commander Dominic Ongwen will kick off on January 21st despite calls for postponement of the trial by his defence counsel.
Ongwen is the first Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commander to appear before the ICC at The Hague in the Netherlands, where he faces charges for 67 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The ICC recently added 60 new charges including murder, looting, torture, cruel treatment and inhumane acts on top of the seven crimes he allegedly committed at Lukodi Internally Displaced People’s Camp in Bungatira Sub County Gulu district in 2004.
Speaking to journalists in Gulu town, Phakiso Mochochoko, the Director Jurisdiction, Complementary and Cooperation Division at the ICC said Ongwen’s defense team had requested the Judge to have the trial postponed due to the bulk of new evidence.
He has called on more witnesses to come out and give clues that will help in investigating the case.
The two decade LRA war left hundreds of people dead, while thousands more were displaced.
Story By Cissy Makumbi
