Fertile or Futile Grounds for Excluding Criminal Responsibility? A Critical Analysis of the Ongwen Judgment in Relation to the Claim of Coercive Environment

Dominic Ongwen was convicted and sentenced for numerous atrocities by the International Criminal Court (icc) in 2021. The Defence focused on the coercive environment that Ongwen was subjected to from his abduction as a boy until his surrender as an adult. The icc rejected the claim of duress as a ground for excluding criminal responsibility in the context of a past and present coercive environment. This article examines how the icc interpreted and applied duress in the Ongwen case and evaluates whether a coercive environment can be categorised as a unique defence in the icc Statute. This is done by scrutinising whether a coercive environment has been raised as a defence in domestic jurisdictions. This paper shows that national courts have not recognised a defence specific to crimes committed in a coercive environment and thus concludes that no such defence can be used by defendants before the icc.