Former president of Liberia first head of state indicted, tried and convicted in an int’l court
This two-‐year-‐old girl lost her right arm when her grandmother was shot and killed by Revolutionary United Front rebels. She was being carried on her grandmother’s back and was wounded by the same bullet that killed her grandmother. The four other men all had their hands amputated by rebels ©1999 Corinne Dufka/Human Rights Watch
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Charles Taylor, former president of Liberia, was convicted in The Hague Thursday 26 April on 11 counts of war crimes by the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
The court’s statement noted that the 11-count indictment alleged that he was responsible for crimes committed by rebel forces during Sierra Leone’s decade-long civil war. “The Special Court’s Trial Chamber II found unanimously that Mr. Taylor aided and abetted RUF and AFRC rebels in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sierra Leone.”
The court did not accuse him of personally committing crimes but rather “found that he had aided and abetted the rebels by providing them with arms and ammunition, military personnel, operational support and moral support, making him individually responsible for their crimes”, from his base in neighbouring Liberia.
The charges included the recruitment, enlistment and use of child soldiers and
- several war crimes: terrorism, outrages upon personal dignity and cruel treatment, pillage plus
- several counts of crimes against humanity: rape, enslavement, sexual slavery, mutilations and amputations and murder.
A sentencing hearing will be held 16 May and he will be sentenced 30 May. The court must sentence him to a specific number of years in prison; it cannot give him a life sentence or the death sentence.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The murder convictions of American Amanda Knox and her one-time boyfriend, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, could be overturned by a court in Perugia in central Italy Monday 3 October, but the prosecution says it will appeal if the earlier verdict is quashed, and that life sentences will be demanded.
The case of the murder of British university student Meredith Kercher in Perugia in a drug-fueled sexual assault, as the lower court described it, has held the attention of world media for the past four years, since the couple was arrested shortly after the 2 November 2007 murder. Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison and Sollecito to 25 years. Knox in particular has provoked deeply divided views of her role.
Links to other sites: CBC, Canada, Seattle PI, Daily Telegraph, UK
Geneva, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – The trial of Cécile Brossard for the murder of Edouard Stern draws to a close today 17 June. The jury of 12 is sequestered and its judgement is expected by the end of the day. They must decide if the murder, to which Brossard has admitted, was simple homicide or a crime of passion with attenuating circumstances. A conviction for homicide could carry up to 20 years in prison for the 40-year-old.
Background: Edouard Stern’s murder, GenevaLunch in partnership with l’Hebdo, 9 June 2009
