A Ugandan court has sentenced Thomas Kwoyelo, a former commander in the infamous Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), to 40 years in prison following a significant war crimes trial. Kwoyelo was found guilty on 44 charges, including murder, rape, kidnapping, and pillaging, although he denied all allegations against him.
This ruling marks the first time a commander from the notorious rebel group has been convicted by a Ugandan court. Founded in the late 1980s, the LRA is notorious for its brutal actions in Uganda and neighboring countries.
Kwoyelo’s trial took place in Gulu, a city in northern Uganda that endured terror from the LRA for over two decades. One of the most harrowing incidents attributed to the group was an attack in 2004 on a camp for displaced civilians in Pagak, where dozens of women and children were brutally beaten to death with wooden clubs.
The International Crimes Division of the Ugandan High Court chose not to impose the death penalty or life imprisonment on Kwoyelo, noting that he was abducted by LRA fighters as a child and forced into military service. The LRA was infamous for abducting children to turn them into soldiers or sex slaves; Kwoyelo has stated that he was only 12 years old when he was taken.
The court acknowledged that Kwoyelo had expressed remorse and determined that he no longer posed a threat to society.
Joseph Kony, the founder of the LRA, established the group over two decades ago, claiming to fight for a government based on the Ten Commandments of the Bible. The LRA became notorious for its extreme violence, including the amputation of victims’ limbs, leading to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.
Initially operating in northern Uganda, the LRA later moved to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Kwoyelo was arrested in 2009, and eventually to the Central African Republic. While the LRA has been largely dismantled, an international effort to capture Kony ultimately failed and was suspended after he was deemed no longer a threat to Uganda.
Kwoyelo faced a total of 78 charges, of which he was acquitted of three murder charges, while 31 others were dismissed. With 15 years already spent in remand, he will serve an effective total of 25 years in prison.
His legal team has indicated plans to appeal each conviction, with the court granting them 14 days to file their appeal. A separate hearing will be scheduled to address reparations for Kwoyelo’s victims.
In a related note, another LRA commander, Dominic Ongwen, was sentenced to 25 years in prison by the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands in 2021.
-
-
-
-
