Victim Perpetrators: Prior Victimisation as a Mitigating Factor at the International Criminal Court

Abstract

In 2005, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Dominic Ongwen, a Brigade Commander in the Lord's Resistance Army. Ongwen is accused of international crimes – but he is also a victim. Ongwen was abducted as a 10-year-old child by the very same organisation he now helps to lead. This article examines the jurisprudential issues that arise in cases where the traditionally exclusive identities of 'victim' and 'perpetrator' blur. It is argued that evidence of previous victimisation, for example being a child soldier with the Lord's Resistance Army, should be relevant when Ongwen stands on trial at the International Criminal Court, or an international criminal tribunal. Specifically, while such evidence should not provide a defence, it should be a mitigating factor taken into account during sentencing