A former commander convicted of war crimes in Liberia, a first

Published on : 06/18/2021 – 6:15 PM

Former Liberian rebel commander Alieu Kosiah was sentenced Friday, June 18, to 20 years in prison by a Swiss court, becoming the first Liberian to be convicted of war crimes committed during the conflict in his country.

Swiss Federal Criminal Court’s Court of Criminal Affairs has found 46-year-old Alieu Kosiah guilty of multiple atrocities, including murder, rape and use of child soldiers, during the first of two successive civil wars in Liberia and which killed some 250,000 between 1989 and 2003.

The verdict of the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona, in southern Switzerland, marks the first conviction of a Liberian, whether in this West African country or elsewhere, for war crimes committed during the conflict .

Detained in Switzerland since 2014

Alieu Kosiah, who pleaded his innocence, was accused of having committed a series of war crimes while he was commander of the armed group of the ULIMO (United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy), a faction of armed groups hostile to the Charles Taylor movement (National Patriotic Front of Liberia, NPFL). He has been detained since his arrest in November 2014 in Switzerland.

He was convicted of 21 of the 25 counts, including ordering or participating in the killing of 17 civilians and two unarmed soldiers. He was also found guilty of rape, using child soldiers, ordering looting and repeatedly inflicting “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” on civilians.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, but must be deducted the more than six and a half years he has already spent in detention. The court also ordered that he be expelled from Swiss territory for a period of 15 years.

Switzerland recognizes the principle of universal justice, which allows it to try people suspected of having committed international crimes, regardless of where they were committed. It has been called upon to deal with several cases of international justice, but this is the first time that a case of war crimes has been brought before a Swiss non-military body.

One of the main actors in the conflict, former warlord turned president (1997-2003) Charles Taylor, was convicted in 2012 for crimes against humanity and war crimes perpetrated in Sierra Leone, neighboring Liberia, but he was not worried about the atrocities committed in his own country.

Most of the commanders of the various armed groups fled the country after the war.

More than 15 years after the end of the conflict, a large number of personalities directly involved in the civil war still occupy important positions in the spheres of political and economic power.

With AFP