Alieu Kosiah’s enchantment might land him a life sentence as he faces extra fees of crimes towards humanity.
A Liberian man convicted of twenty-two counts of struggle crimes together with rape, homicide and an act of cannibalism is looking for to overturn the judgement at an enchantment trial in Switzerland’s Federal Prison Courtroom, the place he additionally faces new fees of crimes towards humanity.
Former strongman Alieu Kosiah’s enchantment opened on Wednesday within the Bellinzona municipality and is predicted to final till early February.
Kosiah was discovered responsible by the Federal Prison Courtroom of “violating the legal guidelines of struggle” in June 2021, in Switzerland’s first-ever struggle crimes trial. The indictment has since been expanded to incorporate crimes towards humanity – the primary time these fees are being introduced in a Swiss trial.
Alain Werner, a Swiss lawyer and director at Civitas Maxima who's representing the victims, informed Reuters he was “assured” however famous “it’s a difficult case”.
“Typically it’s simply their phrase towards his and these are issues that occurred 30 years in the past,” he mentioned.
A lady who gave her identify solely as Mama was current on the trial. Kosiah was convicted of raping her when she was 14.
“I needed to return right here due to what he did to me,” she mentioned. “I would like him in jail.”
Six different plaintiffs had been current on Wednesday, together with a person who alleged that he witnessed the defendant eat slices of a person’s coronary heart.
Kosiah, who settled in Switzerland in 1998, was arrested in 2014. A 2011 Swiss legislation permits prosecution for severe crimes dedicated wherever, underneath the precept of common jurisdiction.
Throughout Liberia’s back-to-back wars in 1989-2003, 1000's of individuals had been mutilated and raped in clashes that concerned drugged fighters and marauding little one troopers conscripted by strongmen.
In contrast to Sierra Leone, which had its personal civil struggle on the identical time and later held struggle crimes trials, Liberia has not seen prosecutions for such crimes. The victims testifying within the Kosiah trial have all requested for anonymity for concern of reprisals as some strongmen nonetheless maintain influential positions within the nation.
Like “struggle crimes”, the time period “crimes towards humanity” refers to atrocities, together with homicide, torture and rape. However as an alternative of being remoted or sporadic occasions, crimes towards humanity are linked to incidents carried out in a widespread or systematic method.
The extra cost is “necessary for the victims”, Raphael Jakob, a lawyer representing considered one of seven plaintiffs, mentioned.
If the court docket guidelines that crimes towards humanity had been dedicated, Kosiah’s 20-year sentence might be elevated to life imprisonment.
Within the decrease court docket, Kosiah was discovered responsible of a slew of struggle crimes dedicated whereas commander of the United Liberation Motion of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO) armed group.
He ordered or participated within the homicide and killing of 17 civilians and two unarmed troopers, in addition to rape, and deploying a baby soldier, the court docket dominated.
He had additionally ordered lootings and had repeatedly ordered, or himself inflicted, merciless and humiliating therapy on civilians, and mishandled corpses, in line with that verdict. He was sentenced to twenty years in jail, the utmost sentence doable in Switzerland when the crimes had been dedicated.
Kosiah appealed the decision, sustaining his innocence and requesting an acquittal.
However the recent trial has supplied a possibility for the plaintiffs to push for the prosecutor so as to add crimes towards humanity to the fees.
To date, solely a handful of individuals have been convicted in Liberia itself for his or her half within the brutal wars, and efforts to determine a struggle crimes court docket within the nation have stalled.
However momentum is rising on the worldwide stage for justice for war-time atrocities.
One other suspected strongman, Gibril Massaquoi, appeared in a Finnish appeals court docket on Tuesday for his function in Liberia’s civil struggle following his acquittal final 12 months by a decrease court docket.
Massaquoi, who moved to Finland in 2008, is accused of homicide, rape and struggle crimes.
In November 2022, a former Liberian insurgent commander was additionally sentenced to life in jail by a French court docket.
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