Prosecution in the case of the former Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commander, Thomas Kwoyelo has asked the court to sentence the convict to life imprisonment for the offences of murder and kidnap with the intent to murder, he was found guilty of.

The prosecution made the prayer on October 14, 2024, before the International Crimes Division of the High Court sitting in Gulu High Court Circuit in Gulu city during the submission of aggravating and mitigating statements by the prosecution and victims’ counsels as well as the defence, respectively.

Kwoyelo was on August 13, 2024, found guilty of 44 offenses by a panel of four trial judges: Michael Elubu, Duncan Gaswaga, Stephen Mubiru and Andrew K. Basaija.

The offences that include murder, rape, kidnap, torture, inhumane acts, cruel treatment, aggravated robbery and pillaging, were committed between 1994 and 2005 in areas in Pabbo sub-county in Amuru district, and they violate some sections of the Penal Code Act, Article 3 common to the Geneva Convention and the Customary International Law.

While making the aggravating pleas on behalf of the prosecution team, Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Charles Richard Kamuli also asked the judges to sentence the convict to between 30 and 50 years in prison for the offences of rape, torture, cruel treatment and imprisonment.

According to Kamuli, the judges should also sentence the convict to 15 years imprisonment for pillaging and that they (judges) should make the jail terms run consecutively.
He said they arrived at the aggravating pleas based on the extent of the damage caused to the victims, their families and communities, the degree of the convict’s participation in the atrocities, and the large number of victims involved, among others.

Meanwhile, the defence downplayed the prosecution’s aggravating plea for life imprisonment for the convict saying it implies that the convict should not see any other life outside detention, even though he is between 49 and 50 years of age only.

Caleb Alaka, another defence lawyer, said a deterrent sentence for the convict as being prayed for by the prosecution, will scare away other LRA combatants who were captured at young ages (like Kwoyelo) and are still in the bush, from surrendering and coming back home.