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Read, Debate: Engage.
| topic: | Human Rights |
|---|---|
| located: | Liberia, Switzerland |
| editor: | Bob Koigi |
The recent conviction of Alieu Kosiah, Liberia’s rebel leader who was an active player in Liberia’s first civil war, by a Swiss court for war crimes, has not only served justice to millions of Liberian civilians who endured untold sufferings, but set a precedent under the universal jurisdiction principle.
Kosiah, who was the former commander of the United Liberation Movement of Liberia during the seven-year civil war, was convicted of various crimes including rape, cruel treatment of civilians, pillage and murder.
The civil war is regarded as one of the bloodiest in post-independence Africa. More than 150,000 Liberians were killed and millions others displaced.
As victims relentlessly pursued justice after Kosiah moved to Switzerland in late 90s, he was apprehended by authorities in 2014 in what began an emotional legal journey.
The case and the conviction remain historic for demonstrating Switzerland’s commitment to universal jurisdiction on serious crimes defined in international law. The principle allows prosecution of such crimes irrespective of where they have been committed or the citizenship of victims or suspects.
Kosiah becomes the first Liberian to be prosecuted and convicted of the atrocities committed during the civil war and the first one to be tried in a non-military criminal court in Switzerland. Despite recommendations of Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation commission to prosecute masterminds of the war crimes in 2009, no concrete actions have been taken.
As the victims savour a hard won court case and begin the journey to healing, the conviction should jolt nations to give millions of victims of war crimes the world over the justice they have been desperately pursuing by collaborating to defend and strengthen international law, while expediting processes of bringing perpetrators to book.
Image: United Nations Photo.
