ICC judges ruled there were “substantial grounds” to believe Kony was criminally responsible for atrocities committed in northern Uganda between 2002 and 2005. They also found evidence linking him personally to crimes against two women he forced to become his “wives.”
This ruling is the first in ICC history to confirm charges in a suspect’s absence, allowing the case to proceed to trial once he is apprehended. Prosecutors say efforts to locate the 64-year-old rebel leader are ongoing.
Kony’s LRA, which began in the late 1980s in northern Uganda’s Acholi region, mixed Christian mysticism with a violent rebellion against President Yoweri Museveni’s government. The UN estimates the conflict killed about 100,000 people and displaced 2.5 million. Even after being expelled from Uganda, the LRA continued deadly raids across South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic, abducting thousands of children for use as soldiers and sex slaves.
Kony became globally infamous in 2012 after the #Kony2012 campaign drew attention to his crimes. Despite years of international military efforts, he remains at large, making him the ICC’s longest-standing fugitive.