The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday confirmed charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Uganda’s fugitive Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) leader, Joseph Kony, in absentia.

Kony faces 39 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, torture, enslavement, and sexual slavery, allegedly committed between July 2002 and December 2005 in northern Uganda. The confirmation of charges follows a hearing held in his absence in September.

In its decision delivered on Thursday, November 6, 2025, the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber III found substantial grounds to believe that Kony is responsible for atrocities committed in northern Uganda between July 1, 2002, and December 31, 2005.

The Chamber was composed of Judge Althea Violet Alexis-Windsor (Presiding Judge), Judge Iulia Antoanella Motoc, and Judge Haykel Ben Mahfoudh.

According to the ICC, Kony, a Ugandan national and founder of the LRA, oversaw a campaign of violence against civilians during a protracted armed conflict between his rebel group and the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF). “The Chamber determined that the LRA’s operations were marked by a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of northern Uganda,” targeting communities perceived to be supporting the Ugandan government.

Civilians, including women and children, were abducted, enslaved, and subjected to brutal acts of violence.

The confirmed charges include crimes against humanity such as murder, torture, enslavement, forced marriage, forced pregnancy, rape, and persecution on political, age, and gender grounds, and war crimes, including intentionally directing attacks against civilians, pillaging, conscripting children under 15, and using them in hostilities.

While confirming all charges, the Chamber emphasized that a trial cannot proceed in Kony’s absence, as he remains at large and his whereabouts are unknown.

The court also ruled that both the Defence and the Prosecutor cannot immediately appeal the decision: “The Defence and the Prosecutor cannot immediately appeal this decision, since the Chamber decided that the time limit for filing an application for a leave to appeal shall be suspended until Mr Kony is notified of the decision upon his surrender to the Court.”

Kony has been wanted by the ICC since 2005 and is among the court’s longest-running fugitives. The LRA is accused of killing tens of thousands of civilians and abducting more than 60,000 children across Uganda, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic.

The ICC’s confirmation of charges marks a renewed international focus on bringing Kony to justice, after nearly two decades of pursuit. However, without his arrest, the case remains in limbo.

If captured, Kony would face trial before a designated Trial Chamber of the ICC in The Hague. The ICC issued arrest warrants in 2005 for Kony and four other senior LRA commanders, Vincent Otti, Okot Odiambo, Raska Lukwiya, and Dominic Ongwen.

Ongwen was captured in 2015, tried before the ICC, and sentenced in 2021 to 25 years’ imprisonment. Proceedings against the other commanders were terminated following reports of their deaths.