Angelina Jolie Reportedly Volunteered to Act as Bait in a Scheme to Arrest Ugandan Warlord Joseph Kony
Angelina Jolie once came very close to proving that life does indeed imitate art. Newly leaked International Criminal Court emails and documents reportedly show that the Academy Award winner — who has played spies and action stars onscreen many times — volunteered to be a central part of a plot in 2012 to lure Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony into an arrest.
The documents, which were shared by French investigative journal Mediapart with The Sunday Times, include a series of emails from Luis Moreno Ocampo, the ICC’s chief prosecutor from 2003 to 2012; Jolie’s assistant; and Jolie herself. According to the Times, Moreno Ocampo wrote in one email that Jolie had “the idea to invite Kony to dinner and then arrest him.” In another missive, he wrote, “Forget other celebrities, she is the one…She loves to arrest Kony. She is ready. Probably Brad [Pitt] will go also.”
In a short thread of leaked messages between Moreno Ocampo and the actress, who has previously shown her support for the ICC’s investigations of crimes against women and children, Jolie appeared to be fully on board with the plot, in which she would join the troops in pursuit of the genocidal warlord before offering herself as something of a honeypot to bring Kony out of hiding. “Apparently you can be embedded with the special forces that are chasing Kony. Can Brad go with you?” Moreno Ocampo wrote. “Brad is being supportive. Let’s discuss logistics. Much love Xxx,” Jolie replied. However, after Moreno Ocampo responded with, “It will be great to spend more time with the American troops. They are eager to get Kony, but after meeting you, they will do it,” there was no further discussion of the plan, which appears to have never come to fruition.
Kony was indicted by the ICC in 2005 for alleged war crimes and gained international notoriety in 2012 due to a viral video from the Invisible Children organization detailing his crimes. He is still currently evading arrest, and is rumored to be hiding out in the disputed territory between Sudan and South Sudan.
Other leaked ICC documents show that Jolie was not the only celebrity Moreno Ocampo attempted to persuade to join the international justice organization’s efforts against genocide and human rights violations. According to the Times, Moreno Ocampo asked George Clooney — who co-founded an initiative to fly satellites over the South Sudan to gather evidence of war crimes, to send his satellites to Libya in 2011 to monitor the late dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s actions and “put pressure on Gadaffi generals.” Clooney politely declined.
And when Moreno Ocampo invited Sean Penn to a United Nations Security Council meeting regarding Sudan and mentioned that he was trying to decide if he should launch an investigation of Palestine, the longtime humanitarian reportedly replied, “While you make the decision on Palestine, I’m embroiled in a decision of weather [sic] or not to go to get a steam in the hotel spa. Which is to say…I am very flexible today and tonight.”
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