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UN:
TWO FORMER MILITIA LEADERS JAILED BY UN-BACKED TRIBUNAL IN SIERRA LEONE:
09/10/2007 (MaximsNews Network)
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UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network /
- 09 October 2007 -
The United Nations-backed Special Court for
Sierra Leone (SCSL) today sentenced two former leaders of a pro-Government
militia to jail over war crimes they committed during the country’s prolonged
civil war in the 1990s.
Moinina
Fofana, who was convicted on 2 August on charges of murder, cruel treatment,
pillage and collective punishments, was given a six-year prison term by the SCSL,
which sits in the capital, Freetown.
Allieu
Kondewa, who was convicted on the same charges and also on a count of recruiting
child combatants, received an eight-year sentence.
At the
trials, prosecutors said Mr. Fofana served as National Director of War for the
Civil Defence Forces (CDF) while Mr. Kondewa acted as the militia’s “High
Priest.” The case against a third accused CDF leader, Sam Hinga Norman, ended
after he died in February.
During
Sierra Leone’s civil war the CDF, comprised of various tribally-based
traditional hunters, supported the Government against rebel groups, including
the Revolutionary United Front and the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC).
Prosecutors
had asked for longer terms of imprisonment for Mr. Fofana and Mr. Kondewa but
Justice Benjamin Itoe, the presiding judge, said today that several mitigating
factors meant shorter terms were warranted.
These
included the efforts of the CDF to restore the democratically elected government
of Sierra Leone, which the court said had contributing to re-establishing the
rule of law in the West African nation.
The SCSL
is mandated to try those bearing the greatest responsibility for serious
violations of international humanitarian and Sierra Leonean law within the
country’s borders since 30 November 1996. It is the second international war
crimes tribunal established in Africa.
Labels: United
Nations, U.N.,
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