International Courts/Tribunals
Sierra Leone Court Convicts Junta Leaders
Posted Jun 20, 2007, 01:41 pm CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A Sierra Leone war crimes court has convicted three former junta leaders for offenses ranging from terrorism to murder to forced conscription of children.
The verdicts were the first to be issued by the United Nations-backed court, the Associated Press reports.
The three defendants led the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council in a campaign of violence that included raping women, burning villages and forcing children to become soldiers, prosecutors had claimed. The council controlled the country for a year after it overthrew the government in 1997.
Corinne Dufka, a senior researcher at New York-based Human Rights Watch, told AP the verdict is the first conviction for child recruitment by an international court.
Among those indicted by the Sierra Leone Special Court is former Liberian President Charles Taylor, accused of supporting the Sierra Leone rebels.
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