Theatre of Violence

Dominic Ongwen was nine years old when the Lord’s Resistance Army, a Ugandan terrorist group, abducted him and killed his parents. Joseph Kony’s guerrillas tortured and brainwashed him and forced him to kill. Thirty years later, Ongwen turned himself in to the authorities. Now he has become the first former child soldier to be charged with crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The charges range from murder and rape to torture and slavery. But can the adult man be separated from his traumatic past in order to convict him? Can someone be both victim and perpetrator? This is the central question for Krispus Ayena, who is appointed to defend Ongwen in the most high-profile case of his career.

CHILD SOLDIERS: VICTIMS OR PERPETRATORS?