Allieu Kondewa is a former traditional doctor in the Kamajors tribe and military commander of the Civil Defence Forces in Sierra Leone. He was born in the Bo District and lived served until his arrest and subsequent trial by the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
The Kamajors were a group of traditional hunters from the Mende ethnic group in the south and east of Sierra Leone. The word "Kamajor" derived from Mende "kama soh", meaning traditional hunter with mystical powers, who were originally employed by local chiefs.
The Civil Defense Forces (CDF) was a paramilitary organization that fought in the Sierra Leone Civil War (1991–2002). It supported the elected government of Ahmed Tejan Kabbah against the rebel groups Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). Much of the CDF was made up of the Kamajors group, which is part of the larger Mende ethnic group. The Kamajors believed in many magical ways of defending themselves, such as rituals to create bulletproof skin.
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, informally Salone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It has a tropical climate, with a diverse environment ranging from savanna to rainforests. The country has a total area of 71,740 km2 (27,699 sq mi) and a population of 7,075,641 as of the 2015 census. Sierra Leone is a constitutional republic with a directly elected president and a unicameral legislature. Sierra Leone has a dominant unitary central government. The president is the head of state and the head of government. The country's capital and largest city is Freetown. Sierra Leone is made up of five administrative regions: the Northern Province, North West Province, Eastern Province, Southern Province and the Western Area. These regions are subdivided into sixteen districts.
Kondewa's trial began on 3 June 2004 and was tried alongside his fellow ranking members of the CDF, Moinina Fofana and Samuel Hinga Norman.
Moinina Fofana is a Sierra Leonean former military commander who was the leading general in the Kamajors militia and director of the Civil Defence Forces (CDF) during the Sierra Leone Civil War. He was considered to be one of the leaders of the CDF, like Samuel Hinga Norman and Allieu Kondewa.
Samuel Hinga Norman was a Sierra Leonean politician from the Mende tribe. He was the founder and leader of the Civil Defence Forces, commonly known as the Kamajors. The Kamajors supported the government of Ahmed Tejan Kabbah against the Revolutionary United Front(RUF), which was led by Foday Sankoh. On 7 March 2003 Hinga Norman was indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone for war crimes and crimes against humanity. He died on 22 February 2007 in Dakar, Senegal while undergoing medical treatment.
On 2 August 2007 Kondewa and Fofana were convicted of the war crimes of murder, violence to life and mental suffering, pillage, and collective punishments. Kondewa was further found guilty of the war crime of the use of child soldiers. Kondewa was acquitted of related charges of crimes against humanity and the war crime of terrorism. [1] On 9 October 2007, the Court sentenced Kondewa to eight years imprisonment. [2] Kondewa has appealed his conviction to the Court's Appeals Chamber.
A war crime is an act that constitutes a serious violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility. Examples of war crimes include intentionally killing civilians or prisoners, torturing, destroying civilian property, taking hostages, performing a perfidy, raping, using child soldiers, pillaging, declaring that no quarter will be given, and seriously violating the principles of distinction and proportionality, such as strategic bombing of civilian populations.
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human being with malice aforethought. This state of mind may, depending upon the jurisdiction, distinguish murder from other forms of unlawful homicide, such as manslaughter. Manslaughter is a killing committed in the absence of malice, brought about by reasonable provocation, or diminished capacity. Involuntary manslaughter, where it is recognized, is a killing that lacks all but the most attenuated guilty intent, recklessness.
Collective punishment is a form of retaliation whereby a suspected perpetrator's family members, friends, acquaintances, sect, neighbors or entire ethnic group is targeted. The punished group may often have no direct association with the other individuals or groups, or direct control over their actions. In times of war and armed conflict, collective punishment has resulted in atrocities, and is a violation of the laws of war and the Geneva Conventions. Historically, occupying powers have used collective punishment to retaliate against and deter attacks on their forces by Resistance movements.
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Double jeopardy is a procedural defence that prevents an accused person from being tried again on the same charges and on the same facts, following a valid acquittal or conviction. As described by the U.S. Supreme Court in its unanimous decision concerning Ball v. United States 163 U.S. 662 (1896), one of its earliest cases dealing with double jeopardy, "the prohibition is not against being twice punished, but against being twice put in jeopardy; and the accused, whether convicted or acquitted, is equally put in jeopardy at the first trial."
Charles McArthur Ghankay Taylor is a Liberian war criminal and former politician who served as the 22nd President of Liberia from 2 August 1997 until his resignation on 11 August 2003.
Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was a rebel army that fought a failed eleven-year war in Sierra Leone, starting in 1991 and ending in 2002. It later developed into a political party, which still exists today. The three most senior surviving leaders, Issa Sesay, Morris Kallon and Augustine Gbao, were convicted in February 2009 of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Désiré Munyaneza is a Rwandan businessman and convicted war criminal who was living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, before being imprisoned. He is the first man to be arrested and convicted in Canada on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, for his role in the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. He was sent to jail in October 2009.
Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is a convicted war criminal from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the first person ever convicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). He founded and led the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) and was a key player in the Ituri conflict (1999–2007). Rebels under his command have been accused of massive human rights violations, including ethnic massacres, murder, torture, rape, mutilation, and forcibly conscripting child soldiers.
The Special Court for Sierra Leone, or the "Special Court" (SCSL), also called the Sierra Leone Tribunal, was a judicial body set up by the government of Sierra Leone and the United Nations to "prosecute persons who bear the greatest responsibility for serious violations of international humanitarian law and Sierra Leonean law" committed in Sierra Leone after 30 November 1996 and during the Sierra Leone Civil War. The court's working language was English. The court listed offices in Freetown, The Hague, and New York City.
Issa Hassan Sesay served as senior military officer and commander in the Revolutionary United Front and AFRC/RUF forces in their insurrection against the government of Sierra Leone. He was said to be subordinate only to Sam Bockarie, the Battlefield Commander, and Johnny Paul Koroma, leader of the AFRC.
Winstanley Bankole Johnson is a Sierra Leonean politician and served as mayor of Freetown from July 2004 until he was sacked by his fellow members of the Freetown-city Council on January 17, 2008. Johnson was appointed mayor in July 2004 and is a member of the opposition All Peoples Congress. Johnson came to power as the APC swept 2004 municipal elections.
Alex Tamba Brima, also known as Gullit, was a Sierra Leonean military commander. He was one of a group of seventeen soldiers in the Sierra Leone Armed Forces who called themselves Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) that successfully staged a coup that ousted president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah in May 1997. On 19 July 2007 he was convicted and sentenced to 50 years in prison for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Sierra Leone Civil War.
Ibrahim ("Brima") Bazzy Kamara was a commander of the soldiers of the Sierra Leonean Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and in 2007 was convicted of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Sierra Leone Civil War.
Santigie Borbor Kanu was a Sierra Leonean military commander in the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). He was one of a group of seventeen soldiers in the military of Sierra Leone who successfully staged a coup that ousted president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah in May 1997. In 2007, Kanu was convicted of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Sierra Leone Civil War.
Augustine Gbao, also spelled as Augustine Bao, is a former paramilitary commander of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in the Sierra Leone Civil War. In February 2009, he was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Special Court for Sierra Leone and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was a senior commander in the RUF from 1991 until his capture in 2002.
The Sierra Leone Anti-corruption Commission (ACC-SL) commonly known as ACC is an independent agency of the Sierra Leone Sierra Leone Government, that investigates and prosecutes corruption cases in Sierra Leone. The ACC is supervised by the Sierra Leone Ministry of Justice. The current Head of the ACC is Francis Ben Kaifala, who has been in office since June, 2018..
Paul Kamara is a Sierra Leonean journalist, football manager, and cabinet minister.
Alhaji Chief Alimamy Mucktarru-Kallay was a politician in Sierra Leone who formed the political party the All Peoples Congress (APC). The APC was formed at Elba Corner in Freetown by seven members.
During the Sierra Leone Civil War gender specific violence was widespread. Rape, sexual slavery and forced marriages were commonplace during the conflict. It has been estimated by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) that up to 257,000 women were victims of gender related violence during the war. The majority of assaults were carried out by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). The Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), The Civil Defence Forces (CDF), and the Sierra Leone Army (SLA) have also been implicated in sexual violence.