Sierra Leone militia chiefs are sentenced

A war crimes court sentenced three militia leaders to long prison terms Thursday for what a judge called “some of the most heinous, brutal and atrocious crimes ever recorded,” including killing, rape and child enslavement.

Handing down its first sentences, the United Nations-backed tribunal jailed Alex Tamba Brima and Santigie Borbor Kanu for 50 years each and Brima Bazzy Kamara for 45 years for crimes committed during Sierra Leone’s 1991-2002 civil war.

Passing sentence, Justice Julia Sebutinde said, “The three accused persons have committed violations of human rights in which civilians were mutilated [and] other civilians were killed and burned in their houses. They also were participants in abducting children for slavery and as child soldiers.”

The court convicted all three last month on 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including terrorizing civilians, unlawful killings, rape, forced labor and looting.

The three were also convicted of forcing children younger than 15 to become soldiers, a verdict that rights campaigners hailed as the first such ruling by an international tribunal. The men pleaded innocent to all charges and were found not guilty on two counts of sexual violence and one of physical violence.

The defendants were commanders of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, or AFRC, which staged a coup May 25, 1997, ousting President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah just six months after he had signed a peace deal.

The AFRC then sided with Foday Sankoh’s rebel Revolutionary United Front in a bid to gain control of Sierra Leone and its diamond mines.