Court Hears Testimony that Massaquoi Was Not in Liberia with the RUF
Court Hears Testimony that Massaquoi Was Not in Liberia with the RUF
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The four judge panel from Finland hearing the case against Gibril Massaquoi Leslie Lumeh/New Narratives
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone – A defense witness in the war crimes trial of Gibril Massaquoi told the Finnish court holding hearings here that he fought with the Revolutionary United Front in Lofa County in 2001 but Massaquoi was not with them.
Report by
Mae Azango, New Narratives Justice correspondent
The witness, codenamed “11” to protect him from intimidation, was a radio operator for RUF leader Foday Sankoh’s station called Secret Signal Broadcasting (SSB). He said he met Massaquoi in 1999 when they were all in the RUF together.
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KAMABONKO VILLAGE, KAMAKWIE KARENE DISTRICT, Sierra Leone, May 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ We Yone Child Foundation (WYCF), a nonprofit with unique beginnings, today announces the official opening ceremony of its new school in partnership with Wegdam Foundation. The recently constructed six-classroom building provides a robust educational and welfare curriculum to an underserved community in rural Sierra Leone.
The school s unveiling ushers in a period of hope for Sierra Leone s future generation of leaders, eagerly awaiting it s opening mid-COVID pandemic.
The beautiful and new school, constructed in Kamabonko Village, Sierra Leone. WYCF exclusively partners with local builders to promote local economic growth and sustainability. Inside, young students excitedly await the opening.
Last modified on Wed 12 May 2021 14.35 EDT
Radovan KaradžiÄ, the former Bosnian Serb leader convicted of genocide over the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica, is to be transferred to a UK prison from The Hague to serve the rest of his life sentence.
He is not the first war criminal to be transferred to a UK prison. He joins:
Charles Taylor
The UN-backed special court for Sierra Leone in The Hague found Taylor guilty of 11 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious violations of international humanitarian law, including murder, forced labour and slavery, recruiting child soldiers and rape.
He was found criminally responsible for âaiding and abettingâ the Revolutionary United Front and other factions carrying out atrocities in Sierra Leone between 1996 and 2002.
The trial of former rebel leader Gibril Massaquoi for war crimes committed in Liberia entered a new phase Tuesday with the first witness hearings in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, an AFP correspondent noted.
Gibril Massaquoi, a 51-year-old Sierra Leonean, is on trial for a litany of murders, rapes and torture perpetrated in Liberia by himself or rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) between 1999 and 2003.
Nicknamed Angel Gabriel at the time, he was a senior member of the RUF, a Sierra Leonean armed group led by Corporal Foday Sankoh, who was close to former Liberian warlord and later president, Charles Taylor.