In October, Thomas Kwoyelo, a former low-level commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) was sentenced to 40 years in prison by the International Crimes Division of Uganda’s High Court for his perpetration of various war crimes between 1992 and 2005. With this verdict the 15-year-long trial comes to an end, marking the first time that Uganda’s judiciary convicts a former LRA soldier. Despite the formal significance of the trial, that is holding perpetrators of war crimes accountable, the Court’s verdict has resulted in mixed reactions from various civil society actors, ultimately questioning if the sentence truly serves justice. 

While the Human Rights Watch describes the trial as a “rare opportunity for justice”, others raised significant concerns about the verdict’s impact on survivors and victims, who are still lingering with the traumatic pain that the LRA has caused. Irene Akongo, whose sister got abducted by the LRA, states that “(t)here is a need for more effort to make sure that the open wound does not continue bleeding”. Similarly, criticizing the durability of the 15-year-long trial, Irene Anying, Ugandan Director of the Advocats Sans Frontières’ argues that the lengthy trial extended victims’ pain, emphasizing that “justice delayed is justice denied”. 

Essentially, it must be noted that the efforts of the Ugandan judiciary to prosecute perpetrators of war crimes did recognize the suffering that the victims have endured, at least to some extent, that is by finding Kwoyelo guilty. Nevertheless, the concerns raised by various stakeholders are entirely justified as the Ugandan High Court’s attempt to offer prospects for justice is overshadowed by the lengthy duration of the trial as well as by the lack of reparations for survivors, which has complicated their healing process. Thus, while the trial and its verdict seem to have served justice in a formal sense, it has reasonably left survivors and victims disappointed with outstanding demands for more judicial accountability that directly benefits and helps them find closure.

Healing from the trauma caused by the LRA’s violent activities is essential, as survivors have endured immense suffering over decades. Since its emergence in the late 1980s, the LRA has been responsible for approximately 100.000 deaths, 66.000 child abductions and 2.5 million forced displacements. Concretely, the militant group originated in northern Uganda under the leadership of Joseph Kony, aiming to overthrow the government and establish a state for the Ugandan ethnic Acholi community based on Kony’s interpretation of the biblical ‘Ten Amendments’. Notably, the extremist militant group rapidly gained a reputation for its violent and dehumanizing tactics that centred around abducting as well as recruiting child soldiers, committing conflict-related sexual violence, mutilating victims by removing their limbs and lips and killing civilians. Eventually, in the early 2000s, the LRA was pushed back by the Ugandan military and forced to retreat into the eastern Central African Republic and the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where the rebel group continues to operate until today, albeit having significantly decreased in size and capacity. In an effort to hold LRA members accountable, Kwoyelo got arrested in 2009 and charged with 78 (war) crimes that, among others, included murder; enslavement and rape. Finally, the former LRA soldier was found guilty on 44 out of these 78 charges and sentenced to 40 years in prison, 25 of which the ex-soldier still needs to serve. 

However, despite Kwoyelo’s lengthy sentence, it is clear that the trauma caused cannot solely be processed by such a jail sentence. Rather, in an attempt to allow victims to find closure, reparative and restorative elements in the Court’s verdict could have greatly supported the victim’s healing process. Thus, for future cases, it is of utmost importance that demands for reparations are more thoroughly addressed during the trial, while suspects should also be prosecuted as swiftly as possible to prevent further suffering of survivors. With various LRA members, including leader Joseph Kony, still in hiding and therefore unprosecuted, it remains to be seen if and how Uganda’s High Court will be able to deliver justice more adequately in future cases.