Sierra Leone: Special Court Upholds Rebel Convictions

The prior convictions of three former rebel leaders who committed war crimes during Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war have been upheld by a special court.

Sierra Leone’s Special Court established to try suspected masterminds of atrocities committed during the war upheld its earlier ruling to imprison Issa Sisay, Augustine Gbao and Morris Kallon for several decades, quashing an appeal against their conviction.

The three leaders of the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) had been prosecuted last February and found guilty of murder, sexual slavery, recruitment of child soldiers and masterminding attacks against UN peacekeepers.

Tens of thousands of Sierra Leonean civilians died during the war amid rearing cases of rape, amputations, abduction and forced recruitment of child soldiers.

With the ruling upheld, Sisay will serve 52 years, Kallon will remain behind bars for 40 years while Gbao was acquitted of his sexual slavery charge and will now serve 25 years.

The court’s decision ends years of trials against the suspected perpetrators of war crimes in Sierra Leone. The only case pending is that of former Liberian President of Liberia Charles Taylor, which is being handled by the International Criminal Court (ICC).   

The RUF rebels fomented Sierra Leone’s 10 year civil war between 1991 and 2002, when the UN-backed Special Court was established to pursue those who bore the greatest responsibility for the worst atrocities during the bloody war. [GR]