Bank Melli Iran v. Telekom Deutschland GmbH

claimed, inter alia, that Joseph Kony had control over Ongwen and disobedience would be punished by death, with Kony's spiritual powers such as mind reading and predicting the future creating an immediacy to the threat. 55 The Defense also asserted that Ongwen's combined mental illness and the duress he faced should exclude him from responsibility. 56 The Trial Chamber denied that Ongwen had faced an immediate threat of death or serious bodily harm, citing, inter alia, evidence of LRA commanders, including Ongwen, defying Kony, and noting that Ongwen had once attempted to escape before subsequently being promoted. 57 Significantly, as regards defenses before the ICC, the Trial Chamber declared that claims of mental disease or defect and duress are contradictory-the former requiring a lack of capacity and the latter necessitating capacity to make decisions. 58 The Appeals Chamber upheld the Trial Chamber's findings, including that experienced LRA commanders generally did not believe in Kony's powers and that LRA spirituality did not contribute to any threat relevant to the question of duress, 59 prompting some to argue that the Court had not properly approached the cultural and spiritual aspects relevant to this issue. 60 In sum, the Ongwen case demonstrates how far the ICC has progressed in relation to sexual and gender-based violence and should stand as a strong precedent on forced marriage and forced pregnancy.Nonetheless, there remains a great deal of work to be done in this regard.Additionally, Ongwen's invocation of grounds for excluding responsibility, particularly given his own victimhood, have served to chalk a faint outline on mental disease or defect and duress, as defenses in international criminal law

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