By Impunity Watch Africa

The Special Court for Sierra Leone issued its judgment today in the joint trail of Moinina Fofana and Allieu Kondewa, the alleged former leaders of the Civil Defense Force.  Fofana was found guilty of four counts of war crimes and Kondewa was found guilty of five counts including war crimes and other serious violations of international law, as well as recruiting child soldiers.  Both were acquitted of charges of murder and violence as crimes against humanity.  Below is a summary of the charges and findings published on the Court’s website.  For a complete report from the court, please see the Special Court for Sierra Leone website.

For more information, please see:

Reuters – Factbox – Sierra Leone’s Civil War – 02 August 2007

Reuters – Sierra Leone War Crimes Court Convicts Government Militia Chiefs – 02 August 2007

Count	Substantive Charge	Article of the Statute of the SCSL under which the charge was brought	Source of Law	Finding of Guilt
1	Murder	Art. 2(a)	Crime Against Humanity	Both Accused not guilty
2	Violence to life, health and physical or mental well-being of persons, in particular murder	Art. 3(a)	Violation of Common Article 3 or Optional Protocol II	Both Accused guilty
3	Inhumane Acts	Art. 2(i)	Crime Against Humanity	Both Accused not guilty
4	Violence to life, health and physical or mental well-being of persons, in particular cruel treatment	Art. 3(a)	Violation of Common Article 3 or Optional Protocol II	Both Accused guilty
5	Pillage	Art. 3(f)	Violation of Common Article 3 or Optional Protocol II	Both Accused guilty
6	Acts of Terrorism	Art. 3(d)	Violation of Common Article 3 or Optional Protocol II	Both Accused not guilty
7	Collective Punishments	Art. 3(b)	Violation of Common Article 3 or Optional Protocol II	Both Accused guilty
8	Conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 years into armed forces or groups or using them to participate actively in hostilities	Art. 2(i)	Crime Against Humanity	Fofanah found not guilty. Kondewa found guilty.