Sierra Leoneans must prepare for another international court which will prosecute those who commit crimes against humanity between 2018 and 2023 in Sierra Leone. Hundreds of Sierra Leoneans have been allegedly butchered especially during protests
The court also would highly likely look back at April, 1992 when prominent Sierra Leoneans including a police chief, James Bambay Kamara were extra-judicially executed. A meeting between Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio and the ICC (International Criminal Court) Chief Prosecutor, Karim Kahn held few days ago has confirmed that the crimes will be investigated at all cost and against all odds.
The ICC which owes its origin to the Rome Statute of 1998 is charged with the responsibility of bringing to justice those who commit war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity will superintend the establishment of the new court. Another argument holds that the ICC itself will sit in Sierra Leone.
Whatever the argument, another chapter of Special Court for Sierra Leone will sit on the Sierra Leonean soil after close to two decades when the previous one folded up. The essence of moving ICC to Sierra Leone’s door steps is to ensure that the people of Sierra Leone enjoy the privilege of seeing those who allegedly killed their loved ones humbled in a court of law.
Counsel Kahn emphasised the need to have the court sit here in his discussion with President Julius Maada Bio. “Justice should not be confined here to the ICC prosecutors and the judges but should be felt by the people of Sierra Leone,” Kahn assured Sierra Leoneans. Kahn who worked here in Sierra Leone said the people of Lungi, Freetown and other parts of the country must feel proud to see international justice being implemented locally.
The move would deter future Sierra Leonean leaders who would want to turn against their people. The mission of the new court is not too different from the old one set up to bring to justice those who bear the ‘greatest responsibility’ for serious human rights abuses committed in the 10 years of Sierra Leone’s civil war.
Counsel Kahn and President Bio met to discuss, during the UNGA (United Nations General Assembly) conference in the US, issues relating to human rights abuses of which key officials of his government would have to answer questions.
The meeting between Mr Kahn and Bio came after a letter was served on the latter in which the prosecutor an opportunity to meet with the President on the fringes of the UNGA. The letter came after Sierra Leonean protesters in the diaspora took the matter to court. Sierra Leone is among three countries that were recently elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, an opportunity which the ICC will leverage on to expedite the establishment of the human rights crimes court in Sierra Leone.
Sierra Leone, Counsel Kahn said, had been a key partner in the international justice system making reference to the country’s support to the defunct Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) and the ICC itself.
“Sierra Leone is a great country and plays an important role in the international justice system. Since it is among three African countries elected to the Non-permanent member of the Security Council, we count on and can work with Sierra Leone to benefit from the leadership in terms of international justice,” the prosecutor assured Sierra Leoneans. The ICC prosecutor goes further to inform President Bio that the ICC operates on one but critical principle: ‘equality of humanity,’ adding that the lives of the people Global South, Latin America, Asia and Africa are as important as the lives of people anywhere else in the world.
In delivering justice, the ICC explores several options and one of those options is to meet heads of states or governments and express their intention to prosecute alleged human rights abusers. Mr Kahn has been quite frank and clear with President Bio who said “the ICC will refortify the bond of trust which has been existing between Sierra Leone and the ICC.”
By his statement, the prosecutor hopes that President Bio will cooperate with the ICC in their future investigations and prosecutions of those who unlawfully killed or extra-judicially executed hundreds of the people of Sierra Leone, burned down homes, looted, raped and sexually harassed detainees in police and prison cells and committed serious human rights abuses with impunity.
It is also hoped that some portions of Sierra Leone’s legal system will be utilised by the proposed tribunal as it was done by the Special Court for Sierra Leone which was an hybrid tribunal. The court had Sierra Leonean as well as foreign judges who presided over the trial and appeals chambers.
Justice Bankole Thompson who was well versed in Sierra Leonean’s criminal legal system sat at the defunct court as judge of the trial chamber.
If it goes as planned, the new court will look into extrajudicial killings that took place in Sierra Leone under President Bio’s watch for which no action was taken against perpetrators. Killings of protesters took place in Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown and other parts of the country.
In Makeni city, North of Sierra Leone, 20 people, according to Honourable Zainab Catherine Tarawallie, were allegedly killed in July, 2020 when youth protested against the transfer of a 1.6kva generator from Makeni to Lungi town in the Northern region. Government however put the figure of those killed at six.
Killings also allegedly took place in Tonkoli, Tombo and Lunsar in the North-West regions with accusing fingers pointed at some police and military officers who also enjoy a field day. Sierra Leoneans also lost their lives during intermittent waves of protests staged against high cost of living and other forms of human rights abuse by state security forces.
In a related development, 31 protesters including six police officers were fatally injured in August 10, 2022, an act for which no one was held accountable. The act of police and military brutality even continued when women staged a protest in Freetown in respect of crunching economic hardship.
Most were arrested and detained for days before released owing to pressure from the public and other inter-governmental institutions including ECOWAS (Economic Community Of West African States). Arguably, the worst killing took place at Pa Demba main correctional centre where dozens of inmates were allegedly gunned down by guards deployed at State House.
Although a widely circulated audio on media platforms implicated several senior government officials, no one was ever roped in.
Instead of investigating, government tagged APC officials as “terrorists,” “insurrectionists” and “masterminds” of the attempted jail break sparing the Chief Justice whose one-month ban led to the protest. The Chief Justice ordered one-month incommunicado detention of inmates owing to a suspected Covid-19 case fearing a spread of the contagious virus in prison facilities.
Killings also took place as recent as September 11, this year when six people were allegedly fatally injured by state security forces during a post-election protest in Sierra Leone. Community residents have accused the police of carrying out the kilings.
Police high command however showed a casualty figure of two which was much lower than that put forward by unofficial sources. Emerging evidence has also shown that most of those killed took no part in the protest; they were shot dead while in their booths selling their wares.
A disabled top-up seller, Alfred Kallon who was shown to be a card carrying member of the ruling party was shot dead on mere finger pointing while in in his stall. For many Sierra Leoneans, they would not like to see the atrocious crimes swept under the carpet, but those responsible should be made to answer questions, a direction to which the court is slowly but surely moving.
As the international tribunal is about to sit in Sierra Leone, many questions in respect of those who would be handed over to the ICC have featured prominently in the day’s discussions. Heads of police and military institutions as well as the Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone, Mohamed Kenewui Konneh might roll, and only time will tell.