Sierra Leone Telegraph: 3 November 2022:
A court in Paris yesterday, Wednesday, sentenced a former Liberian rebel commander to life in jail over violence against civilians and complicity in crimes against humanity after France’s first trial linked to Liberia’s civil wars.
The Paris criminal court found Kunti Kamara guilty of crimes against civilians between 1993 and 1994, including a teacher whose heart he reportedly ate, and not preventing soldiers under his command from repeatedly raping two teenage girls. The 47-year-old defendant betrayed little emotion when the verdict was pronounced.
The case was brought by the crimes against humanity division of the Paris court. It was set up in 2012 to try suspected perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide detained on French soil, irrespective of where their alleged crimes were committed.
The allegations against Kamara date back to the early years of the back-to-back conflicts that would ultimately kill 250,000 people between 1989 and 2003 in the West African nation.
The fighting was marked by mass murders, rape and mutilations, in many cases by child soldiers conscripted by warlords, with atrocities against civilians common.
Kamara was a regional commander of the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO), a rebel group that fought the National Patriotic Front of ex-president Charles Taylor.
The prosecution had sought a life sentence against Kamara, whose defence team had questioned the trustworthiness of the evidence against him.
The conviction of a former Liberian rebel commander for wartime atrocities in Liberia by a French court is a milestone in delivering justice for victims, and for France’s efforts to hold those responsible for grave crimes to account, Amnesty International France, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and Human Rights Watch said yesterday.
The Paris Criminal Court delivered its judgment for complicity in crimes against humanity, and responsibility as a direct perpetrator for torture and “barbaric acts” in the trial of Kunti Kamara, also known as Kunti K., or CO Kunti, on November 2, 2022. He is a former member of the rebel group United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO), active during Liberia’s first civil war. The judges sentenced him to life imprisonment. Both the prosecution and defense have 10 days to appeal the decision. A hearing to examine the civil parties’ claim for compensation followed.
“More than 25 years later, the French court’s verdict is a ray of hope that justice is possible for the victims in Liberia,” said Elise Keppler, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch (HRW). “The Liberian government should stop dragging its feet and request the UN, US, African Union, and other international partners to assist in setting up a war crimes court so more people implicated in crimes during the civil war can be held to account.”
HRW reports that during the trial, which lasted just under four weeks, witnesses described killings, rape, beatings, forced labor, and torture by ULIMO members. Some victims identified Kamara as physically involved in committing the crimes. Additional witnesses testified to the context in Liberia and to the psychological state of some of the other witnesses who testified to the crimes.
Kamara’s trial in person in France was possible because the country’s laws recognize universal jurisdiction over certain serious crimes under international law, allowing for the prosecution of these crimes no matter where they were committed and regardless of the nationality of the suspects or victims. The trial was the first in France involving grave crimes committed abroad that was not linked to the Rwandan genocide.
Convictions for war crimes, crimes against humanity, or torture during Liberia’s civil war era have been rare. Alieu Kosiah was convicted in Switzerland for war crimes in 2021, and the judgment is currently on appeal, and Charles “Chuckie” Taylor, Jr., son of the Liberian leader during that era, was convicted in the United States for torture in 2008. Kosiah was brought from Switzerland to France to testify in the Kunti Kamara trial.
Liberia has not attempted to prosecute a single serious crime among the widespread and systematic violations of international human rights and humanitarian law committed by all parties during Liberia’s civil wars. Charles Taylor was tried only for crimes in neighboring Sierra Leone by the UN backed Special Court for Sierra Leone.
Kamara was arrested in 2018, after the organization Civitas Maxima brought his case to the attention of French authorities. After two years of investigation, including a two-week fact-finding mission in Lofa County, northwest Liberia, where he allegedly led the local ULIMO faction, the French prosecutor accused him of various crimes. A question-and-answer document issued on October 5 offers more information on the trial and how it is situated in the context of Liberia’s civil wars and France’s use of universal jurisdiction.
“This trial on atrocities in Liberia is an important example of how France’s universal jurisdiction can offer a path for justice to victims,” said Jeanne Sulzer, head of the International Justice Commission at Amnesty International France. “Witnesses described extraordinary brutality for which Kunti Kamara was found guilty, including killings, rape, and torture .”
According to HRW, the use of universal jurisdiction in France is, however, restricted by several legal barriers, the groups said. These include the requirement that the accused must have “habitual residence” in France and that the crimes, even if prohibited under international law, must be explicitly punishable under the criminal law of the country where they were committed, except in genocide cases. In addition, unlike for other crimes in France, the Public Prosecutor’s Office has discretion over whether to prosecute, and French prosecutors must verify whether any national or international court has asserted jurisdiction before opening an investigation.
HRW says that, in contrast to Kamara’s case, a November 2021 decision by France’s Cassation Court annulled a Syrian crimes against humanity case because Syrian law does not explicitly criminalize crimes against humanity. The decision sparked renewed calls for reforms from civil society organizations and justice experts in France, including the Public Prosecutor’s Office. In light of these debates, the Cassation Court is expected to hold a hearing and issue a decision on the application of the restrictions in the coming months. Decisionmakers have indicated that the court’s ruling could help inform possible legislative reforms.
“The limitations on France’s universal jurisdiction laws are restricting access to justice for victims of the most serious crimes,” said Clémence Bectarte, lawyer and coordinator of the FIDH Litigation Action Group. “French authorities should bring their universal jurisdiction laws in line with their commitments to the fight against impunity for international crimes.”
Source: AFP/Human Rights Watch
From former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre , tried and found guilty in a Senegalese court. Indeed that was the first African leader to be tried for crimes committed against his own people and most importantly tried and convicted by African judges on the African continent .And today the Gambian government is under increasing pressure to put their former dictator Yayah Jammeh on trial for crimes committed against the Gambian people during his term in office .Also we have the pending trial of Blaise Compaore of Bukina Fasso , for his alleged involvement of the ordering and the killing of his “family friend “Captain Thomas Sankarah. Since we are in the season of international justice the latest addition that is set to go on trial Capatain Moussa Dadis Camara the former military strongman of Guinea , set to go on trial with ten others accused of the 28th of September 2009 stadium massarce in which more than hundred and fifty young people were killed and scores of women raped by out of control Guinean security forces, in response to an opposition demonstration against military rule . And now the latest conviction in a Paris court of former commander fighting in Liberia’s civil war Kunti Kamara, goes to the show the hand of international justice will always seek out and track down former leaders that perpetuate crimes against their own people.This judgment is welcome in the sense no more should those who are complicit in crimes against their own people should feel safe or victims of such heinous crimes should let bye-gones be by gones. Human rights and many international organisation will seek you out and ensure you account for your barbaric actions against your own people .Many European countries , including the United Kingdom and the Untied States and to some extent some African Countries have put laws in place to punish would-be perpetrators of these henious crimes against humanity, that come to reside in their own countries .And this latest convinctions in a Paris court follows the first trial of Pascal Simbikangwa , a 54 year old former Rwandan Intelligence chief , who faces charges of complicity in genocide and complicity in war crimes two decades after Rwandan genocide in which almost a million Tutsi and moderate Hutus where murdered in an ogry of violence in1994 .It is only right that individuals responsible for the killing or ordering the killing of innocent people are call to account in a court of law for their diabolical actions .So Bio and his foot soldiers that continue to kill ordinary citizens under his watch should be aware the hand of international justice is long. No matter how long it takes , justice will always prevail for the victims and their families. .The feeling at the moment they will get away with murder .So was all the examples given above.At the hight of their power they felt they can do whatever they wish without worrying maybe one day they will be call to account for their actions .But once power is drained out of you , you are exposed to the harsh realities of international justice.You might be immune from. persecution in your own country , for the interest of peace and stability , but once you hop on that plane and leave the judicial safer of your country , the hands of justice will be trailing you .There is no hiding place for would be former dictators and their foot soldiers .And Mr Kunti Kamara might have thought he had got away with murders only to find himself in a Paris court room reliving all his past .More like his past have come back to hunt him .Which is good for international justice .And for the victims and their families they have had their day in court.
Miscarriage of justice. All these lads did , probably beyond the expectations of the9r sponsors ( the U.S and Co the cruel execution of the plan starting from the fake Boston excsoee – Ghangay Taylor