The International Criminal Court is set to hear evidence against fugitive Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony two decades after his Lord’s Resistance Army gained international infamy for atrocities in northern Uganda.
The hearing which is expected to take place today afternoon is known as a “confirmation of charges”, and it is the Hague-based court’s first-ever held in absentia.
Kony faces 39 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection to the LRA’s campaign against the Ugandan government between 2002 and 2005, which prosecutors allege was rife with rape, torture, and abductions of children.
Kony has eluded law enforcement since the International Criminal Court first issued an indictment in 2005, making the hearing a litmus test for others in which arresting the suspect is considered a far-off prospect, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The hearing is expected to last three days and will allow prosecutors to outline their case in court, after which judges will decide whether to confirm the charges.
