The long-awaited trial of Joseph Kony, the Lord’s Resistance Army chief came to passed, as warlord fugitive Joseph Kony alluded ICC arrest for over two decades.
GULU CITY-THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2025.
By Okumu Livingstone Langol, Our Correspondent
The International Criminal Court dropped the decision to trial war Lord’s Joseph Kony LRA Chief, the development marks a dramatic turn in the long-standing international pursuit of the Lord’s Resistance Army leader, for over two decades after indictment in year 2002 five LRA high commanders were indicted, however the attempted failed to arrest them only Dominic Ongwen surrendered to CAR.
Joseph Kony, whose name has for decades been associated with war, displacement, and atrocities committed across Northern Uganda and the wider Great Lakes region remain elusive, his whereabouts still a Misty as Acholi communities in Northern Uganda believe that Kony is a demigod.
Leonie Von Broun, senior Lawyer with ICC announced that the decision, announced by the International Criminal Court Chambers, signals a shift in the legal trajectory surrounding Joseph Kony, LRA Chief, whose indictment once represented the global community’s strongest attempt to bring accountability to survivors of the LRA insurgency.
Even as reactions begin to rise across Uganda and especially in communities that endured years of conflict. The dropped decision raises renewed questions about justice, closure, and how the legacy of LRA will be confronted moving forward.
Julius Ocungi, Bureau chief of Uganda Radio Network based in Gulu City asked the ICC senior Lawyer Ms. Leonie von Broun, the decision of dropping ICC trial means Joseph Kony no any information about him, can the ICC used google map to trace
“It can’t work, even now through the teleconference we are holding you how the network is, I cannot hear you well.”
Otherwise, we are still tracing Joseph Kony through our partner countries, “I cannot disclose more because those are our top secret.” Ms. Leonie warned.
Additionally, technology cannot work on Joseph Kony, it is impossible because how can we explain to victims if the procedure of trial is not met, it too sensitive to discuss Joseph Kony in the media, because it compromises our partner countries who are working with us.
Senior Lawyer of the ICC explained that the judges brought 39 counts of charges on joseph Kony, the counts covered Lwala Girl’s secondary school in Kaberamaido, Teso Sub Region where about 150 school girls were abducted in year 2005, Barlony IDP camps, in Lango Sub Region, Pajule IDP Camp, in Pader District alleged killing by LRA, and others massacre places.
The ICC senior Lawyer Ms. Leonie Von confirmed that on 6th November, 2025. The Judges confirmed all the 39 counts on Joseph Kony, at this stage the procedure has been suspended while we await the arrest of Joseph Kony. The decision is a milestone for Joseph Kony, because all cases have been confirmed, the decision of case is strong enough to move the case for trial.
The trials that affect children and mothers, the children that have been affected in hundreds, are severely tortured by Joseph Kony who is the murderer of the perpetrator with some LRA commanders whom they have been declared dead.
Ms. Leonie Von declared, this ends the trial in absentia of Joseph Kony, only can be handed when he surrenders, or captured. What that means for us, we concluded the procedure if he has been arrested, when the time comes, we can move faster.
She later argued that the amendment trial on Joseph Kony, what are the underlying issues? We are now ending the confirmation proceeding. The amendment state parties want strong cases when he is arrested the criminal prosecution will start. This is not a trial to lose hope, it has taken us to move too slow.
Our Correspondent asked the Seiner Lawyer of the ICC, what is the fate of war victims in northern Uganda, for over two decades, property including households, and over 1 million population has not been accounted for as result of war. That involved both LRA and UPDF. Would the government of Uganda pay for reparation?
The seiner ICC lawyer, Ms. Leonie Von, developed cold feet and instead pushed the question back complaining if Uganda government would pay reparation.
In a nutshell, what was expected to be a decisive briefing instead turned into a moment of uncertainty and discomfort, with ICC officials appearing visibly unprepared to respond to pointed questions from local and international media. Their inability to provide a firm legal or moral justification for abandoning the decades-long pursuit of Kony left the audience unsettled, raising doubts about the court’s credibility and its promise to deliver justice to war-affected communities in Acholi Sub Region.
