Prosecutor v. Dominic Ongwen
International Criminal Court
Case No. ICC-02/04-01/15 (2021)

- Written by Kelli Lanski, JD
Facts
In the late 1980s, 10-year-old Dominic Ongwen (defendant) was abducted and indoctrinated into the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda. He rose through the ranks and became a senior commander. The LRA was notorious within Uganda for its brutal attacks and murders of civilians. The International Criminal Court charged Ongwen with 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity taking place from 2002 to 2005, while he was an adult. Ongwen argued the defense of duress as an excuse for his actions, claiming that he was under imminent threat of death or harm from Joseph Kony, LRA’s leader. Testimony at trial established that Kony was a violent leader who ordered the arrest and murder of members of the LRA but that Ongwen had successfully pushed back on some of Kony’s orders over the years without facing serious injury or death.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning ()
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.