ICC delays hearing against fugitive Ugandan warlord

The International Criminal Court on Thursday postponed in absentia hearings to confirm charges against fugitive Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony, saying a “new date will be announced at a later stage.”

Kony, 63, has been wanted by the Hague-based ICC since 2005 for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity following a three-decade reign of terror by his Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group across several African nations.

The ICC announced five months ago it would hold hearings in October to confirm 36 counts against Kony, whose current whereabouts are unknown.

“The Pre-trial Chamber… decided to postpone the commencement of the confirmation of charges hearing… to a new date, which will be announced at a later stage,” the court said in a statement.

“The hearing was postponed following the Defence, Prosecution, and Office of the Public Counsel for Victims’ observations on and proposals for the date of the confirmation of charges hearing,” the ICC said.

The judges added it “noted the circumstances of the proceedings,” notably that Kony’s lawyers were only appointed in June as well as the range of the prosecution’s allegations.

Kony’s court-appointed lawyer, Peter Haynes, last month asked the judges to shelve the October hearings.

The lawyer warned the hearings risked wasting “time and money” should his client not appear in court in person.

It was not even known whether the rebel leader was in fact still alive, he said.

Former altar boy Kony founded the LRA in the 1980s with the aim of establishing a regime based on the Ten Commandments.

The group launched a rebellion against Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni that spread to the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan.

It killed more than 100,000 people and abducted 60,000 children who were forced to become sex slaves, soldiers and porters.