Landmark Conviction: Former LRA Commander Sentenced to 40 Years in Ugandan Court

In a significant development for justice in Uganda, a Ugandan court has sentenced Thomas Kwoyelo, a former commander in the notorious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), to 40 years in prison. This landmark verdict follows a war crimes trial in which Kwoyelo was found guilty of 44 charges, including murder, rape, kidnapping, and pillaging.

Kwoyelo, the first LRA commander to be convicted by a Ugandan court, denied all charges against him. The trial, held in the city of Gulu, northern Uganda, took place in the region terrorized by the LRA for over two decades. Kwoyelo’s conviction brings a sense of closure to the victims of the LRA’s brutal reign of terror, particularly in relation to the horrific 2004 attack on a camp for displaced civilians in Pagak, where dozens of women and children were brutally murdered with wooden clubs.

The International Crimes Division of the Ugandan High Court opted not to impose the death penalty or life imprisonment, taking into account Kwoyelo’s childhood abduction by the LRA and subsequent forced recruitment as a child soldier. The LRA was infamous for abducting children, forcing them into combat roles or sexual slavery. The court also acknowledged Kwoyelo’s expressed remorse and deemed him to no longer pose a threat to society.

The LRA, founded in the late 1980s by Joseph Kony, claimed to be fighting for a government based on the Ten Commandments. However, the group became known for its brutal atrocities, including limb amputations and displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.

The LRA initially operated in northern Uganda but later shifted to the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. Kwoyelo was arrested in Congo in 2009.

While the LRA has been largely dismantled, an international effort to capture Kony was ultimately unsuccessful and suspended. Despite the conviction of Dominic Ongwen, another LRA commander, by the International Criminal Court in 2021, Kwoyelo’s sentencing marks a significant milestone for Ugandan justice.

The Ugandan court will separately address the issue of reparations for Kwoyelo’s victims. His legal team plans to appeal the convictions, while the former commander will serve a total of 25 years in prison, having already spent 15 years on remand.

This landmark conviction is a testament to the Ugandan justice system’s commitment to holding perpetrators of war crimes accountable, providing some measure of justice for the victims of the LRA’s horrific crimes.