Angelina Jolie Reportedly Offered to Help Capture Warlord Joseph Kony by Offering to Take Him to Dinner
The name is Jolie, Angelina Jolie.
In a case of the truth being far stranger than even Hollywood fiction can create, the Salt actress once came perilously close to taking part in some real-life espionage on behalf of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
A hoard of 40,000 ICC documents leaked to the French investigative website Mediapart reveals that Jolie once offered to act as human bait in a trap to arrest brutal Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony.
She “has the idea to invite Kony to dinner and then arrest him,” reads an e-mail sent by former ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo, reports The Sunday Times.
“Forget other celebrities, she is the one,” Moreno Ocampo adds in another email. “She loves to arrest Kony. She is ready. Probably Brad will go also.”
According to The Sunday Times, which has seen the Mediapart documents, Moreno Ocampo hoped that Jolie and her now estranged husband would travel to the Central African Republic with a team of US Special Forces.
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It was thought that their presence would then draw Kony out of his armored compound and enable the US forces to take him into custody. As head of the Lord’s Resistance Army, Kony has a $5 million bounty on his head and is wanted by the international criminal court for crimes against humanity. He is currently thought to be hiding in the disputed border area between Sudan and South Sudan.
“Apparently you can be embedded with the special forces that are chasing Kony. Can Brad go with you?” The Sunday Times reports Moreno Ocampo as e-mailing.
Jolie replied, “Brad is being supportive. Let’s discuss logistics. Much love Xxx.”
Moreno Ocampo later added, “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.”
Despite this exchange, The Sunday Times reports that the incredible plan never came to fruition. The cache of e-mails also suggests that Moreno Ocampo developed something of a fixation with celebrities during his time as Chief Prosecutor at the ICC, which has a budget of $270 million to investigate and prosecute cases of genocide and war crimes. (Ocampo finished his term with the ICC in 2012.)
Neither the ICC nor Jolie’s reps responded to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.
The Argentine lawyer is currently at the center of a row over his connections to Libyan businessman Hassan Tatanaki, who was closely tied to the brutal regime of former dictator Col. Muammer Gaddafi. In a statement to the Financial Times, however, Moreno Ocampo stated that he is completely innocent of breaking any rules regarding his work with Hassan Tatanaki, and that the Mediapart leak is part of a “targeted cyber attack” to stop him investigating international terrorism.
“Someone is attempting to blackmail me using illegally obtained information,” he added.
Working as a Special Rapporteur for the UNHCR, Jolie has a long-standing interest in global human rights cases. In May 2009, she also visited an ICC courtroom in the Hague, Netherlands to watch Moreno Ocampo prosecute Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga, calling it “a landmark trial for children.”
However, their contact waned in recent years. The Sunday Times reports that despite Moreno Ocampo’s hopes that Jolie would get involved in a charity education project, an email that simply read, “Dear Angie, I hope you are well. I miss you,” received no response.
Another attempt at communication with the actress’ assistant was met with a reply that Jolie had changed her personal email address.
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