Media Advisory: 21 January 2015

Initial appearance of Dominic Ongwen scheduled for 26 January 2015

ICC-CPI-20150121-MA173

Situation: Uganda
Case: The Prosecutor v. Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen

The initial appearance of Dominic Ongwen before the single Judge of Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Judge Ekaterina Trendafilova, is scheduled for Monday, 26 January 2015, at 14:00 (The Hague local time). Dominic Ongwen was transferred to the ICC on 20 January 2015 following an arrest warrant issued by the Court on 8 July 2005 for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

During the initial appearance hearing, the single Judge will verify the identity of the suspect and the language in which he is able to follow the proceedings. He will be informed of the charges against him.

Background: Dominic Ongwen was the alleged Brigade Commander of the Sinia Brigade of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). On 8 July 2005, ICC Judges issued an arrest warrant against Mr Ongwen for three counts of crimes against humanity (murder; enslavement; inhumane acts of inflicting serious bodily injury and suffering) and four counts of war crimes (murder; cruel treatment of civilians; intentionally directing an attack against a civilian population; pillaging) allegedly committed in 2004 within the context of the situation in Uganda.

For further information on the case, click here.

Order convening a hearing for the first appearance of Dominic Ongwen

Questions and answers on the Dominic Ongwen case

Webstreaming of the hearing

The proceedings held in Courtroom II and can be followed live on the ICC website at:

Attending the hearing

  • Journalists wishing to cover the hearing are kindly invited to request attendance via email to: [email protected]. All journalists must present a valid press card at the public entrance of the Court, located at Regulusweg (The Hague).
  • Members of the diplomatic corps, NGOs and other members of the public wishing to attend the hearing are kindly invited to request attendance via email to: [email protected]. Attendees must present a valid passport or valid ID with a photo at the public entrance of the Court, located at Regulusweg (The Hague).

Please note that individuals who do not request attendance in advance cannot be guaranteed access to the hearing.

AV materials

Filming or photography is strictly prohibited inside the Court building. However pictures of the hearing will be posted on the Court's Flickr account.

The entire hearing will be available for download on an FTP server in video (MPEG-4) and audio (MPEG-3) format and for viewing on the official ICC YouTube Channel.

Media Centre

For media representatives wishing to use the Court's media facilities, the media centre will open from 9:30 until two hours after the end of the hearing.

The area can seat up to 64 people and includes plasma TV screens; a Wi-Fi Internet service; cards (plug + play) for those without Wi-Fi capability in their PC or laptop; 6 computers with Internet access; and 7 telephones that may be used free of charge for internal calls. For external use, journalists are advised to purchase beforehand 0800 pre-paid phone cards available at newsagents and train stations. Please note that phone cards cannot be obtained in the vicinity of, or at the ICC.

Feed for the SNG trucks

SNG trucks can record the signal from the Courtroom from the distribution box placed in the media parking facilities (see below). Please note that there is no power supply available at the car park and that it is therefore necessary to have a generator.

Parking facilities

Parking facilities are available for media representatives at the Wegastraat car-park. Journalists attending are kindly invited to use the public entrance located on Regulusweg.


For further information, please contact Fadi El Abdallah, Spokesperson and Head of Public Affairs Unit, International Criminal Court, by telephone at: +31 (0)70 515-9152 or +31 (0)6 46448938 or by e-mail at: [email protected].

You can also follow the Court's activities on YouTube and Twitter