The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday, November 6, 2025, confirmed 39 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Joseph Kony, the fugitive leader of Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), marking a major step toward holding him accountable after nearly two decades on the run.
Kony faces charges including murder, rape, sexual slavery, forced pregnancy, and the conscription of child soldiers for atrocities committed between 2002 and 2005, according to a court decision published on Thursday.
An arrest warrant was first issued against Kony in 2005, making him the ICC’s longest-standing fugitive. Despite years of international pursuit, he remains at large.
Judges dismissed a request by court-appointed defense lawyers to halt the proceedings and instead upheld the prosecution’s application to formally confirm all 39 charges.
“The chamber finds that the prosecution’s allegation that Mr. Kony issued standing orders to attack civilian settlements, kill and mistreat civilians, loot and destroy their property, and abduct children and women to be integrated into the LRA is established to the relevant standard (of substantial grounds to believe),” the judges said in their ruling.
The ruling also noted that beyond crimes allegedly committed by his subordinates, Kony could face 10 additional charges for acts he personally committed, including crimes against two women held as his “forced wives.”
For these, he is accused of enslavement, forced marriage, forced pregnancy, torture, and persecution based on age and gender.
The ICC prosecution team welcomed the court’s decision, describing it as a milestone in the pursuit of justice.
“This ensures that Joseph Kony – once arrested – can immediately face trial on these charges,” the Office of the Prosecutor said in a statement, adding that efforts to locate and apprehend the 64-year-old warlord are ongoing.
Kony founded the Lord’s Resistance Army in the late 1980s with the goal of overthrowing the Ugandan government. Under his leadership, the LRA carried out widespread massacres, abductions, and mutilations across northern Uganda and neighboring countries.
According to United Nations estimates, the conflict claimed more than 100,000 lives and displaced millions before the group’s decline in the 2010s.
While the LRA has largely been dismantled, Kony’s whereabouts remain unknown, and international efforts to capture him continue.
