Wife and kids of LRA rebel commander to visit him at the Hague

The wife and two children of Dominic Ongwen, the ex-commander of Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group, will visit him early next year in the Hague, where he is standing trial, the Uganda Daily Monitor reports.

According to the portal, Ongwens’s lead lawyer, Krispus Ayena Odongo disclosed that the International Criminal Court (ICC) had accepted a visit request and at least three family members are expected, for the first time, to visit him in the New Year.

“By January 2017, all the paper work would be completed for their travel; it will be a lady and two children,” the lawyer said quoting the accused’s preferences.

Ongwen’s trial started on Monday at the International Criminal Court(ICC) where he is facing 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder and enslavement. He’s facing more charges than any other ICC suspect.

He is the first former child soldier to be charged by the court in The Hague. On his first appearance he denied the charges adding that he was also a victim of the violence.

A young Ongwen was abducted and conscripted by the notorious rebel group. Among other charges, he is accused of leading attacks on four camps for internally displaced people in northern Uganda – murdering and torturing civilians, plus forcing women into marriage and children to take part in the fighting.