Dr Paul Behrens admitted as amicus curiae by the International Criminal Court 

Edinburgh Law School's Dr Paul Behrens, Reader in Law, has been admitted as amicus curiae by the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court in the Dominic Ongwen case.

Dominic Ongwen was a commander within the Lord's Resistance Army, a militia group that has been active in Northern Uganda since the 1980s. Ongwen was surrendered to the Court by the Central African Republic in January 2015. After a trial in which more than a hundred witnesses were heard, he was found guilty in February 2021 of several war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, rape, forced marriage and sexual slavery. The Defence filed an appeals brief in July 2021. The Appeals Chamber then identified specific legal questions which emerged during the proceedings and invited experts on international criminal law to apply for leave to submit observations on these issues (as 'amici curiae' in judicial proceedings). Dr Behrens was one of the persons who have now been granted leave and has been invited to provide submissions on the relevant points by 23 December 2021.

Dr Behrens said: 'It is a great honour to be selected as amicus curiae by the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court. The questions are complex and of great relevance to international criminal justice, and I am looking forward to examining them in more detail and to providing my conclusions to the Court."