Sierra Leone Tribunal
War Crimes Trials Sierra Leone Tribunal
Introduction to Sierra Leone Tribunal
In 2002 the UN and the Sierra Leone government jointly established a war crimes tribunal, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, to try individuals who had committed atrocities during Sierra Leone’s civil war, which lasted from 1991 to 2000. Unlike the tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, which are administered by the UN and composed of UN-appointed judges and prosecutors, the Special Court is jointly administered by the UN and the Sierra Leone government and contains a mix of Sierra Leonean and international judges. The court has jurisdiction over serious violations of international humanitarian law and certain Sierra Leonean criminal laws. To avoid placing an undue burden on the court, its jurisdiction is limited to crimes committed since November 30, 1996.
Sierra Leone’s civil war began in 1991 when a rebel group, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), launched a violent campaign against the government. Tens of thousands of people were killed in the ensuing war, in which rebel forces terrorized the country by raping and mutilating thousands of civilians, often hacking off their limbs. Rebels also abducted children and forced them into combat. The RUF was reportedly supported by the government of Charles Taylor in neighboring Liberia. The civil war ended in 2000.
In 2003 the Special Court issued its first indictments. The court charged seven people, including rebel leader Foday Sankoh and Internal Affairs Minister Sam Hinga Norman, with murder, rape, extermination, sexual slavery, conscription of children into an armed force, and other crimes. Sankoh died in July 2003 while in UN custody. The same year Taylor lost power in Liberia and went into exile in Nigeria. In 2006 Nigeria deported Taylor to The Hague to face charges before the Special Court. The charges included murder, sexual violence, using children as soldiers, enslavement, and terrorizing the civilian population of Sierra Leone. The prosecution alleged that Taylor had supplied the RUF with training, money, arms, and ammunition with the goal of sharing power over Sierra Leone and gaining access to its diamond trade. Taylor’s trial began in June 2007, but he refused to attend the proceedings.” (1)
Resources
Notes and References
- Information about Sierra Leone Tribunal in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia
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