Thomas Kwoyelo: Crimes Division acquits former LRA Commander of 15 Charges

By Ivan Tolit

The International Crimes Division of the High Court (ICD) sitting in Gulu High Court  on Monday acquitted the former Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) Commander Thomas Kwoyelo alias Latoni of 15 Charges out of the 93 counts against him.

The charges he was acquitted of include crimes against humanity, charges related to grave breaches of the Geneva Convention under the Geneva Convention Act and charges under the penal cord Act like murder, rape, lawful, torture and imprisonment among others.

 The court further ruled that the 78 remaining charges of the 93 counts against him have sufficient evidence and therefore charged him.

In April this year, the state concluded its case after presenting a total of 53 prosecution witnesses to pin the former LRA commander for the 93 counts of charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity he is facing.

The ruling was delivered by a four-member panel of justices led by Michael Elubu, Duncan Gaswaga, Stephen Mubiru and alternate Judge Dr. Andrew Bashaija during the ruling of no cases to answer.

While giving the verdict on Monday,  Justice Michal Eluba, the lead Judge of the  International Crimes Division of the High Court,  acquitted the former LRA commander of the 15 charges because of lack of sufficient evidence.

According to Eluba, court found that he has a case to answer in the remaining 78 charges including war crimes and crimes against humanity, charges related to grave breaches of the Geneva Convention under the Geneva Convention Act and charges under the penal cord Act like murder, rape, torture and imprisonment among others.

He then asked Kwoyelo to prepare his evidence and gave him three options  for his defence including keeping quiet, making a sworn statement and undergoing cross examination as well as making an unsworn statement and not being cross examined.

In response, Dalton Opwonya, Kwoyelo’s lead Defence lawyer, said their client requested for time to first go through the charges dropped and those he has to answer then they will respond.

Opwonya requested for three weeks and an adjournment to allow them to sit with their client and gather more evidence on the78 charges.

Justice Michal Eluba, accepted the request and adjourned court until the 19th of January 2024 for mention.

Evans Ochieng, Kwoyelo’s defence lawyer has welcomed the court ruling saying it is a reduced burden for their client and strongly believe that he will be able to defend himself in the remaining 78 accounts.

He said they are going to prepare and provide all the evidence to ensure that the court exonerates him.

Jackeline Okwir, the Public Relations Officer office of the Directorate of the Public Prosecution, said they are not surprised by the failure by the 15 accounts charges because the prosecution registered huddles  in getting evidences since a number of  witnesses died others lost memory and many relocated making it difficult for them to look for them to testify.

A no-case-to-answer submission is made when the defence considers that the prosecution case does not support a finding of guilt and that the court should dismiss the charge without the defence having to present a case.

Kwoyelo whose trial commenced in September 2018 has been in custody at Luzira Maximum Prison since 2009 after being captured by the Ugandan Army in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in March same year.

He is the first among the top LRA commanders to face a domestic court on crimes related to sexual violence, murder, kidnap, robbery and pillaging allegedly committed between 1993 and 2005 in Pabbo and Lamogi sub-counties in the present-day Amuru district.