By Andrew Irumba
Krispus Ayena Odong, the lawyer representing for Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel Dominic Ongwen, has said that the defence witnesses are facing a lot of intimidation from state operatives.
Ayena told the International Criminal Court on Tuesday that the defense team had been threatened several time.
Although he didn’t specify the nature of the threats, Ayena said the threats and intimidation are the work of individuals he didn’t name.
According to Ayena, some of the witnesses who testified in the trial of Ongwen, a former commander in Joseph Kony’s LRA, have complained of intimidation, while others are too scared to testify.
Ayena spoke out about the threats and intimidation when he made a personal statement to the court about his arrest and release in Uganda last month.
On Tuesday, Trial Chamber IX resumed Ongwen’s trial following the recess, which ran from July 19 to Sunday last week.
Nicholas Ocirowijok, who testified on July 4, 2019, was the last witness to testify before court went on recess.
However, hearings that were scheduled to take place on July 15 and July 16 were canceled at the request of the defense team due to Ayena’s arrest the previous week.
Ayena was arrested from Lira town for allegedly failing to pay a debt stemming from civil litigation over his 2016 parliamentary election petition. Ongwen has up to 62 witnesses who will testify in his defense but Ayena claims they may not be able to testify because of the threats and intimidation.
Some of the witnesses include former Local Defense Unit – LDUs personnel, witchdoctors, traditionalists and ex-LRA combatants among others.
Ongwen is facing trial for 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity which he allegedly committed as LRA commander between July 2002 and December 2005 in northern Uganda, although he pleaded not guilty
to all counts. The trial began on December 6th 2016 but he was formally charged in February 2017 because of the technicalities between government and the International Criminal Court.
