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| |  | | Vincent Otti | | | context : | Uganda  | | judgement place : | ICC | | status : | Died before end of trial | | particulars : | Indicted by the International Criminal Court in July 2005; indictment unsealed on 13 October 2005; killed on 2 October 2007 | | position : | Lieutenant general, second-in-command of the Lord’s Resistance Army |
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| | | | In December 2003, Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni deferred the situation concerning the LRA in the north of the country to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
In July 2004, the Prosecutor of the ICC formally opened investigations.
On 7 October 2005 Ugandan authorities confirmed the arrest warrants and made public the names of the persons concerned: LRA leader Joseph Kony, his deputy Vincent Otti, Raska Lukwiya, Okot Odiambo and Dominic Ongwen (see "related cases").
On 13 October 2005, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the ICC unsealed the arrest warrants for Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes committed in Uganda since July 2002. The Chamber concluded that “there are reasonable grounds to believe” that the five LRA commanders “ordered the commission of crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court”.
The warrants had been issued under seal on 8 July 2005 in order to ensure the safety of victims, potential witnesses and their families.
Pre-Trial Chamber II decided on 13 October 2005 to unseal the warrants of arrest noting that the plan of security for victims and witnesses had been implemented and that the protective measures were adequate.
The allegations made in the arrest warrant are that in the middle of the year 2002 Joseph Kony ordered LRA forces to begin a campaign of attacks against civilians in Uganda.
It is alleged that in late 2003, Kony issued orders to kill, loot and abduct civilian populations, including those living in camps for internally displaced persons (“IDP”). In response, senior LRA commanders and all of the brigade commanders, including the persons named in the warrants of arrest, began attacking several regions in Uganda.
The warrant of arrest for Vincent Otti lists thirty-two counts on the basis of his individual criminal responsibility (Article 25(3)(b) of the Statute) including:
- Eleven counts of crimes against humanity (murder - Article 7(1)(a); sexual enslavement – Article 7(1)(g); inhumane acts of inflicting serious bodily injury and suffering - Article 7(1)(k)), and;
- Twenty-one counts of war crimes (inducing rape – Article 8(2)(e)(vi); intentionally directing an attack against a civilian population – Article 8(2)(e)(i); forced enlisting of children - 8(2)(e)(vii); cruel treatment of civilians – Article 8(2)(c)(i); pillaging - Article 8(2)(e)(v); murder - Article 8(2)(c)(i)).
The LRA has insisted Mr Otti was under house arrest.
According to an article published by the BBC in December 2007, Otti was executed on 2 October 2007 by fellow officers at the home of Joseph Kony.
The LRA first dismissed reports of his death. In an interview on 23 January 2008 the chief of the LRA, Joseph Kony (see "related cases") confirmed that Otti was dead. | |     click for more... | | Trial Watch would like to remind its users that any person charged by national or international authorities is presumed innocent until proven guilty. | |  |  | | last time seen : | | | Uganda | | | charges : | | | Crimes against humanity
War crimes | | | profile last modified : | | | 25.01.2008 |
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