FREETOWN, Sierra Leone – The rebels were known for asking their victims if they preferred "long sleeves" or "short sleeves." They then cut off the hands of those who chose the first option and the full arm of those that picked the second.
On Wednesday, an international court modeled after the Nuremberg tribunal convicted three top Sierra Leone rebel leaders of crimes against humanity — the closest thing to justice in this West African nation of amputees, orphans and widows.
Revolutionary United Front leader Issa Sesay and one of his battlefield commanders Morris Kallon were found guilty on 16 of 18 counts, including mutilation, terrorism, rape, forced marriage, sexual slavery and the enlistment of child soldiers. Another commander, Augustine Gbao, was found guilty on 14 of the 18 counts.
All three had pleaded not guilty and shook their heads as the verdict was read.
About a half-million people were victims of killings, systematic mutilation and other atrocities during Sierra Leone' 11-year civil war, which ended in 2002. Illicit diamond sales fueled the conflict, dramatized by the 2006 film "Blood Diamond," starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
Rebels controlled the diamond fields and used the sale of the gem to buy guns. The rebels were allegedly trained and backed by Charles Taylor, the warlord of neighboring Liberia.
For over a decade, the rebels roamed Sierra Leone's jungles, raiding villages, vying for control of the nation's diamond fields.
Amputations became their hallmark and field commanders were known by names like "Captain Two Hands" and "Dr. Blood." They used machetes, axes and knives and sat three astride their victims, who were forced to place their hands on concrete slabs or tree trunks. New conscripts — especially children — were given bags and told not to return until they had filled them with severed limbs.
Sesay, Kallon and Gbao are the last three rebel leaders to be convicted. The court was set up in 2003 after the end of the 11-year war that began in 1992. Five other masterminds of the conflict have already been convicted.
"The greatest significance of this is that it recognizes that the people of Sierra Leone were victims of these horrendous crimes and it holds individuals accountable," said the Special Court's chief prosecutor Stephen Rapp. "Beyond that we are also sending a message to this country, across the region and across the world that these crimes will not be tolerated."
So gruesome were the crimes committed in Sierra Leone during the civil war that a new body of law needed to be drafted in order to address them.
Prior to the establishment of the war crimes court in Freetown, mutilation — like the systematic amputations witnessed here — had not been considered a crime against humanity. Other new charges as a result of the horrors perpetrated here include the charge of enlisting child soldiers and sexual slavery, said Rapp.
All three charges have already been handed down during the 2007 conviction of a different set of rebel leaders.
Wednesday's trial marked the first time a perpetrator was found guilty of forced marriage, which countless women suffered when they were forced to "marry" a rebel. The women faced deep humiliation and were often not taken back into their communities, forcing some of them to stay with the men who victimized them even after the war ended.
Another first was the conviction of all three for attacking peacekeepers. U.N. peacekeepers were targeted by the rebels in 2000 and four were killed. In a technicality, although the judges agreed that the three had attacked peacekeepers, they found them not guilty of murdering them as a crime against humanity, indicating the attacks were not part of a systematic assault on peacekeepers.
In all, the special court has convicted eight rebel and government leaders — a fraction of those who took part in the violence.
"The approach of the Special Court was to go for highest level commanders — the ones who were the choreographers of the violence," said Corinne Dufka, a researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch and an expert on Sierra Leone.
In a blow to the court, the RUF's founder and longtime leader — Foday Sankoh, known as 'Pa' to his often drugged and drunken child fighters — died of natural causes in U.N. custody in 2003. But Dufka and Rapp say that doesn't diminish the conviction of the other eight.
"Nuremberg is of enormous historical significance — and yet Hitler wasn't there," says Rapp.
While the verdicts Wednesday marked the end of the special tribunal in Freetown, the court still has unfinished business with Taylor, who is being tried in a special session of the Sierra Leonean court in The Hague, Netherlands, for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Taylor's trial is being held outside of Freetown because of fears the case could trigger fresh violence and that he might escape from the court jail in Sierra Leone.
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Associated Press Writers Rukmini Callimachi in Dakar, Senegal and Krista Larson in Johannesburg, contributed to this report.
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On the Net:
Special Court for Sierra Leone: http://www.sc-sl.org
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
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