An international tribunal has jailed three former Sierra Leone rebel leaders for a total of nearly 120 years. All three were senior leaders in the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and were convicted of overseeing atrocities during Sierra Leone's civil war.
Issa Sesay was sentenced to 52 years, Morris Kallon to 40 years and Augustine Gbao to 25 years. They were found guilty in February of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the 1991-2001 conflict. "The chamber concluded that the inherent gravity of the criminal acts for which Sesay, Kallon and Gbao have been convicted is exceptionally high," the judges said. Tactics favoured by the rebels included amputating hands and arms or carving the initials RUF into the bodies of their victims. It is the last case to be held in the capital, Freetown, at the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone.
The RUF trial began in mid-2004 and the court heard about the rebel commanders' role in the conflict. "The crimes were committed on a massive scale... Sierra Leoneans were raped, enslaved, hacked to death and brutalised," the AFP news agency quotes presiding judge Pierre Boutet as saying. "The impact of the crimes on the Sierra Leonean society has been enormous," he added. The RUF was notorious for using the so-called Small Boys Units - child soldiers forcibly recruited and issued with AK-47 assault rifles - who had a reputation for particular cruelty among the civilian population. "Children were deprived of normal education and some of them had the letters of the RUF branded on them as if they were the organisation's property," Mr Boutet said. By the time the conflict ended, tens of thousands of people had been killed while tens of thousands were left mutilated, their arms, legs, noses or ears cut off.
Thirteen people were originally indicted by the tribunal, but RUF rebel leader Foday Sankoh and his deputy commander Sam Bockarie died before coming to trial. When the RUF leaders were found guilty in February, the judges concluded they "significantly contributed" to a joint criminal enterprise with former Liberian President Charles Taylor to control the diamond fields of Sierra Leone to finance their warfare. Mr Taylor faces 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity related to his role in the conflict. His trial has been moved to The Hague for security reasons.
Earlier this week, his lawyers called for the dismissal of the charges saying the prosecution had not presented sufficient evidence of his link with the abuses.
Source: BBC
Showing posts with label Augustine Gbao. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Augustine Gbao. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Monday, July 5, 2004
Rebels face Sierra Leone tribunal
A UN-backed war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone has begun hearing the first cases against members of the rebel Revolutionary United Front. The RUF is blamed for killings, rapes and abductions during a decade of civil war that ended in 2002. But the first three defendants - who include the RUF's final military leader Issa Sesay - are refusing to acknowledge the court's legitimacy.
About 50,000 people were killed, and many more maimed and raped in the war. The RUF's internal security chief, Augustine Gbao, and a key battlefield commander, Morris Kallon, are on trial alongside Issa Hassan Sesay. The RUF's campaign of violence included hacking off the limbs of civilians as a trademark act of terror. The BBC's Lansana Fofana in Freetown says that Mr Sesay occasionally lowered his head as the 18 war crimes charges, including sexual slavery, murder, looting and terrorising civilians, were read out.
Chief Prosecutor David Crane said that atrocities were committed in virtually all parts of Sierra Leone. "This is the day I have been waiting for," said one amputee. "I am now satisfied that someone is being held accountable for what the rebels did to me." But correspondents say the tribunal's importance has been diminished by the deaths of RUF leader Foday Sankoh his deputy Sam Bockarie - best known under his nom de guerre Mosquito.
The tribunal has not yet been able to arrest the man accused of being the RUF's paymaster, former Liberian President Charles Taylor. Despite being indicted on 17 charges of war crimes or crimes against humanity, Mr Taylor is living a life of luxury in exile in Nigeria. Unlike the war crimes tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, the court is based where the alleged crimes occurred and draws on both national and international law.
Source: BBC
About 50,000 people were killed, and many more maimed and raped in the war. The RUF's internal security chief, Augustine Gbao, and a key battlefield commander, Morris Kallon, are on trial alongside Issa Hassan Sesay. The RUF's campaign of violence included hacking off the limbs of civilians as a trademark act of terror. The BBC's Lansana Fofana in Freetown says that Mr Sesay occasionally lowered his head as the 18 war crimes charges, including sexual slavery, murder, looting and terrorising civilians, were read out.
Chief Prosecutor David Crane said that atrocities were committed in virtually all parts of Sierra Leone. "This is the day I have been waiting for," said one amputee. "I am now satisfied that someone is being held accountable for what the rebels did to me." But correspondents say the tribunal's importance has been diminished by the deaths of RUF leader Foday Sankoh his deputy Sam Bockarie - best known under his nom de guerre Mosquito.
The tribunal has not yet been able to arrest the man accused of being the RUF's paymaster, former Liberian President Charles Taylor. Despite being indicted on 17 charges of war crimes or crimes against humanity, Mr Taylor is living a life of luxury in exile in Nigeria. Unlike the war crimes tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, the court is based where the alleged crimes occurred and draws on both national and international law.
Source: BBC
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