Uganda’s court has found the commander of the LRA insurgent group guilty of war crimes

A Ugandan court on Tuesday convicted Thomas Kwoyelo, a leader in the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), guilty of dozens of war crimes, marking the first time a senior member of the organization has been tried by Uganda’s government.

Founded in the late 1980s with the goal of destroying the government, the LRA tormented Ugandans for over 20 years under Joseph Kony’s command, fighting the military from northern Uganda bases.

Rapes, abductions, chopping off victims’ limbs and mouths, and bludgeoning people to death with crude devices were among the LRA’s most heinous crimes.

Under military pressure, the LRA withdrew to South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Central African Republic in 2005, launching waves of violent attacks on civilians.

Kwoyelo rejected the more than 70 counts brought against him, including murder, rape, slavery, torture, and kidnapping.

On Tuesday, at the courthouse in the northern Ugandan city of Gulu, he shook his head, arms crossed and leaning on a desk, as the decision was read.

“The verdict of this court is that the accused was found guilty,” said Justice Michael Elubu, one of four high court justices.

In 2009, Ugandan soldiers apprehended Kwoyelo in the woods of northeastern Congo. He has been in pre-trial prison ever then, and his case has progressed through Uganda’s legal system.

Kwoyelo was found guilty on 44 charges, with 31 dropped as duplications of others and three acquitted.

The judges said that they would commence pre-sentencing hearings next week before deciding when Kwoyelo would be sentenced.

The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) wants LRA commander Kony, but despite many efforts, he has yet to be apprehended.

Dominic Ongwen, another top LRA leader, was convicted of war crimes including as rape, sexual enslavement, child abduction, torture, and murder by the International Criminal Court in 2021. He was subsequently sentenced to 25 years in prison.