There is definitely trouble in the air for the illegal Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio and his brutal cronies. This time around, the cases will be drawn as far back as 1991 when the bloody RUF rebel war commenced. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission TRC will be revisited and chances for its outcome to be revoked are highly likely considering the heinous crimes against humanity being continuously committed by major players who ought to know better. Most significantly, these major players who were given the opportunity to turn their lives around for the better were expected to have repented for their sins against the innocent people of Sierra Leone. (Photo: Mr Alie Kabba, late Foday Sankoh, and Mr Maada Bio, the brain behind the RUF bandits).

But to no avail, unfortunately, according to high-placed sources at the International Criminal Court ICC. Over the decades, these forgiven individuals who were given amnesty in the TRC Report are yet to reform from their past sins which they committed during their tenure in the National Provisional Ruling Council NPRC military junta. The current illegitimate and electoral thief President Maada Bio was central in the TRC Report, one of the many who enjoyed the amnesty blessing. The bloody civil war engineered by the Revolutionary United Front RUF of Alie Kabba started in March 1991. ICC is ready for justice to be restored.

Besides the recent petitions submitted to the ICC against the SLPP regime of Maada Bio, the grieving families of the 1992 extra-judicial killings by the NPRC military junta of Captain Valentine Esegragbo Melvin Strasser have not relented since the mysterious demise of their loved ones. They too have been fighting behind the scenes to bring the major players to book. The families of the late Inspector General of Police Bambay Kamara and 28 others who were executed without trial for instance had submitted so many letters of complaints to the International Criminal Court ICC against these perpetrators.

Now, the ICC seems to be taking action for the victims of violence and crimes against humanity. The late President of the SLPP government Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah was the architect of the TRC Report and eventually, the Special Court for Sierra Leone that tried the individuals who bear the greatest responsibilities. Selfishly, the SLPP regime of Tejan Kabbah made sure many of their own SLPP brothers and sisters like Alie Kabba and Maada Bio did not face the Special Court for Sierra Leone. It was a classic SLPP party that actually formed the RUF rebels and other civil defence forces i.e. Kamajors to free their own people and indict innocent citizens from the north and northwest i.e. from APC areas. (Photos: Special Court for Sierra Leone imminent).

The TRC Report excluded many diehard SLPP party members and supporters from facing the Special Court trial in Freetown. The crook SLPP government did this by pushing the accusation dates from 1996 to 2002 which means that all those who committed crimes against humanity, (between 1991 and 1995), would not qualify to face the Special Court. That was how the likes of Alie Kabba, the pioneer of the Revolutionary United Front RUF rebels, and Julius Maada Bio escaped justice. Now, with the latest petition by Concerned Sierra Leoneans Worldwide submitted to The Hague on August 14, 2023, the ICC is ready to prosecute. More details are as follows thus –

Another Special Court for Sierra Leone

By a Concern Citizen

Sierra Leoneans must prepare for another international court that 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 Khan held a few days ago has confirmed that the crimes will be investigated at all costs 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 and 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 the Special Court for Sierra Leone will sit on Sierra Leonean soil after close to two decades when the previous one folded up. The essence of moving ICC to Sierra Leone’s doorsteps 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.

Barrister Khan 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,” Khan assured Sierra Leoneans.  Khan 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. Mr Karim Khan 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 Khan and Bio came after a letter was served on the latter in which the prosecutor seeks 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 to expedite the establishment of the human rights crimes court in Sierra Leone. (Photo: ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan grilled Maada Bio at the UN Summit in New York).

Sierra Leone, Counsel Khan 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 of 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 Khan 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 a 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. The government however put the figure of those killed at six. Killings also allegedly took place in Tonkolili, Tombo, and Lunsar in the North-West regions with accusing fingers pointed at some police and military officers who also enjoyed a field day. Sierra Leoneans also lost their lives during intermittent waves of protests staged against the high cost of living and other forms of human rights abuse by state security forces. (Photo: Maada, Police Chief Fayia Sellu, Lawrence Leema and Fatmata Sawaneh are among those to face trial very soon).

In a related development, 31 protesters including six police officers were fatally injured on 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 being 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’s 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, the government tagged APC officials as “terrorists,” “insurrectionists” and “masterminds” of the attempted jailbreak 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 recently 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 killings. 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 his stall. Many Sierra Leoneans, 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.