War crime convicts jailed for attempting to coax witnesses

Special Court for Sierra Leone has sentenced three senior members of the country’s former Armed Forces Revolutionary Council to jail terms ranging from 18 months to two years for contempt of court.

Held last month, the trial found the military officials guilty of contempt after it was proven that they had tampered with investigations and attempted to compromise a former prosecution witness. Two of them are currently serving long prison terms for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the civil wars in the West African state since 1996.

In its judgment, passed on October 11 this year the Court ordered Santigie Borbor Kanu and Ibrahim Bazzy Kamara to remain behind bars for two more years each and sentence to be served concurrently, for two counts of interfering with the administration of justice.

Kamara and Kanu are serving 45 and 50-year terms, respectively, for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

They were found responsible for offering bribes to a witness and also attempting to coax a witness into recanting a testimony he had given the Court. The Court sentenced the third convict, Hassan Papa Bangura, to two prison terms of 18-month, also to run concurrently, after being convicted on similar charges.

A fourth accused, Samuel Kargbo, pled guilty to the same charges at his initial appearance in July 2011, and subsequently testified for the prosecution. He received two 18-month suspended sentences, meaning that he will serve no jail term.

During the four-month trial, the court held proceedings at the SCSL's premises in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown and at a courtroom in the Rwandan capital Kigali. The two courts were connected by video link.

While Bangura and Kargbo attended the court proceedings held in Freetown, Kamara and Kanu attended the hearings in Kigali.

Based in Freetown, the SCSL was jointly set up by the government of Sierra Leone and the United Nations in 2002 to try those most responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in Sierra Leone since November 1996.