KAMPALA, Uganda, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- A commander in the Lord Resistance Army charged with murder "is off the hook" because of Uganda's amnesty laws, his lawyer said.
A Uganda court ordered LRA commander Thomas Kwoyelo released in line with an amnesty offered to other members of the militant group.
"He is off the hook," defense lawyer Ben Ikilai was quoted by the BBC as saying. "The constitutional court has decided that he is supposed to be released because it was discriminatory not to grant him an amnesty."
Kwoyelo was facing charges ranging from murder to kidnapping.
More than 10,000 LRA rebels have been pardoned under Uganda's amnesty laws since 2000.
The LRA was accused in July by human rights officials with the United Nations of killing at least 26 people in 53 different villages in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in June. Another 21 people, including 10 children, were kidnapped.
Kwoyelo was captured more than two years ago in neighboring DRC. He was the LRA's fourth-highest ranking official at the time of his capture.
LRA leader Joseph Kony, wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges, remains at large.
