By definition, criminal trials are set to determine the guilt or innocence of the accused. In this process, judges are tasked with assessing not only evidence that presents itself in quantifiable forms, but also as personal experiences. In the case of Dominic Ongwen, a former child soldier and commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army (lra), the issue of spiritualism played a significant role, particularly in relation to the affirmative defences of mental incapacity and duress. Assessing such culturally charged evidence, inherently interconnected to local beliefs, through the lens of an international criminal law trial raises a number of challenges. In the construction of the legal truth, such immaterial evidence undergoes a process through which only certain elements, which are deemed relevant in light of specific arguments, are ultimately selected, filtered through the legal framework, contested by the parties and ultimately decided upon by the judges. Spiritual beliefs therefore become patterns, and patterns become certainties. Based on an in-depth analysis of 408 trial transcripts, along with main submissions and decisions, this article sheds light into how framing spiritualism according to the criteria laid out in the Rome Statute has played out in the trial of Dominic Ongwen. It maps the way in which cultural concepts related to spirituality have been introduced into the trial, by which parties and for what purpose. It also looks at how the system of spiritual powers guiding the lra and its fighters was assessed by the judges and potentially why.

根据定义，刑事审判的目的是确定被告有罪或无罪。在此过程中，法官的任务不仅要评估以量化形式呈现的证据，还要评估个人经历。在前儿童兵兼上帝抵抗军（ lra ）指挥官多米尼克·翁文（Dominic Ongwen）的案件中，招魂术问题发挥了重要作用，特别是在精神无行为能力和胁迫的肯定性辩护方面。通过国际刑法审判的视角来评估这些具有文化色彩的证据，这些证据与当地信仰有着内在的联系，这提出了许多挑战。在法律事实的建构中，此类非物质证据经历了这样一个过程：只有根据具体论点被认为相关的某些要素，最终被选择，经过法律框架的过滤，受到当事人的质疑，并最终由当事人做出决定。法官们。因此，精神信仰变成了模式，而模式又变成了确定性。基于对 408 份审判笔录的深入分析以及主要意见和判决，本文揭示了根据《罗马规约》规定的标准构建招魂术在多米尼克·翁文 (Dominic Ongwen) 审判中的表现。它描绘了与灵性相关的文化概念被引入审判的方式、由哪些当事人以及出于何种目的。它还探讨了法官如何评估指导上帝抵抗军及其战士的精神力量系统以及可能的原因。