The International Criminal Court (ICC) will issue a crucial judgment on April 7, 2025, deciding the fate of convicted former LRA commander Dominic Ongwen’s appeal against a €52 million reparations order. The Appeals Chamber’s ruling, scheduled for 2:30 PM Hague time, marks the final chapter in one of the Court’s most complex cases involving crimes committed during Uganda’s brutal conflict.

This long-awaited decision comes more than a year after Trial Chamber IX’s February 2024 reparations order that held Ongwen financially liable for atrocities committed in Northern Uganda between 2002-2005. The original judgment mandated €52,429,000 in collective community-based reparations, including rehabilitation programs and symbolic €750 payments to eligible victims. Now, a five-judge appellate panel led by Presiding Judge Solomy Balungi Bossa will determine whether this landmark order stands.

The case represents a watershed moment for international justice. Ongwen, once a child soldier abducted by Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) who rose through its ranks, was convicted in 2021 on 61 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes. His 25-year sentence, confirmed on appeal in 2022 and now being served in Norway, made legal history. But the reparations aspect has proven equally groundbreaking – and contentious.

Legal experts highlight three critical dimensions of the upcoming ruling. First, the sheer scale of financial liability – unprecedented in ICC history – tests the Court’s approach to quantifying reparations for mass atrocities. Second, the community-based model breaks new ground in transitional justice, emphasizing collective healing over individual payments. Third, the case grapples with the complex morality of holding a former child soldier accountable while recognizing his own victimhood.

“The April 7 judgment will set important precedents,” explains Kampala-based international law professor David Mpanga. “It addresses fundamental questions about how justice systems should repair unimaginable harm, especially when dealing with perpetrators who were themselves victims.”

The reparations plan approved by Trial Chamber IX had two main components. The larger €52 million portion would fund community rehabilitation programs across affected regions in Northern Uganda, including trauma counseling, education initiatives, and memorialization projects. The smaller but symbolically significant provision authorized €750 individual payments to qualified victims – not as full compensation, but as recognition of suffering.

Ongwen’s appeal challenges both the legal basis and practical feasibility of these measures. His defense team argues the massive financial order bears no reasonable relationship to his actual means, noting the former rebel commander possesses no known substantial assets. They also contest aspects of the collective reparations framework, suggesting it may fail to adequately address individual victim needs.

Victim representatives present a starkly different view. “This isn’t just about money,” explains Margaret Arach, director of the Gulu-based War Victims’ Network. “The reparations represent acknowledgment, a chance for communities to rebuild, and a warning to future warlords that their crimes will have consequences.”

The Appeals Chamber’s decision could uphold, modify, or overturn the reparations order entirely. Legal observers note the panel’s composition – featuring judges from Uganda, Japan, Peru, Georgia, and Mongolia – brings diverse perspectives to this complex deliberation.

Beyond the legal technicalities, the case continues to stir deep emotions in Northern Uganda, where memories of LRA atrocities remain raw. In villages once terrorized by Ongwen’s fighters, April’s judgment is awaited with a mix of hope and skepticism. Some survivors welcome any form of reparations, however symbolic. Others question whether any court order can truly address their losses.

As the ICC prepares to deliver this historic ruling, its implications will reverberate far beyond The Hague. The judgment may influence how international courts handle future reparations cases, particularly those involving mass crimes and indigent defendants. It also tests the ICC’s ability to deliver meaningful justice to conflict-affected communities years after the guns fall silent.

For Dominic Ongwen, now serving his sentence in a Norwegian prison, the appeal represents his last legal recourse regarding reparations. For thousands of Northern Ugandans who survived LRA brutality, April 7 brings either closure or disappointment in their decades-long quest for justice. And for the international justice system, this case continues to shape the evolving answer to one of its most difficult questions: what does true reparations look like after unthinkable violence?

The world will find out when the ICC Appeals Chamber speaks at 2:30 PM on April 7. Courtroom 1 in The Hague may be thousands of miles from Uganda’s red-earth villages, but its decision will echo through the very communities where Ongwen’s crimes – and his own victimization – first began.