On February 22, the Appeals Chamber in the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) issued its first judgment, confirming the sentence of three important leaders of the former military junta of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed between 1997 and 2000 [IJT-71-21]. The judges also added a new crime: forced marriages. Most importantly, they found that Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu were part of a joint criminal enterprise, a decisive finding for the Taylor trial. An hour and a half after starting to read the mostly dry, technical verdict, the appeals judges finally recounted the terrors perpetrated by the AFRC when it was in power from May 1997 to February 1998 and the following two years of bloody guerrilla warfare. "Brima, Kamara and Kanu have been found responsible for some of the most heinous, brutal and atrocious crimes ever recorded in human history. Innocent civilians—babies, children, men and women of all ages—were murdered by being shot, hacked to death, burned alive, beaten to death. Women and young girls were gang raped to death. (...) Sons were forced to rape mothers, brothers were forced to rape sisters. Pregnant women were killed by having their stomachs slit open and the fetus removed merely to settle a bet amongst the troops as to the gender of the fetus. Men were disemboweled and their intestines stretched across a road to form a barrier. Human heads were placed on sticks on either side of the road to mark such barriers. Hacking off the limbs of innocent civilians was commonplace. (...) Children were forcibly taken away from their families, often drugged and used as child soldiers who were trained to kill and commit other brutal crimes against the civilian population."

"Lies!"

Exactly 10 years after having been chased from Freetown by the West African intervention forces, the three former AFRC leaders were given prison sentences of 45 years and 50 years. Before being taken away, Brima and Kamara waved to family members in the public. "Nah lie!", "Lies!" one of their parents whispered angrily, before the crowd of more than 100 people calmly dispersed.

The prosecutor expressed complete satisfaction with the ruling. The crimes of recruiting child soldiers, terrorism and sexual slavery were upheld, as well as the heavy sentences. But the appeals judges also agreed to acknowledge forced marriages as a specific crime against humanity. Most of all, they acknowledged that the three men had in fact been part of a joint criminal enterprise. The trial court judges has dismissed the charge, ruling that a criminal enterprise aimed at what the prosecutor termed "gaining and exercising political power and control over the territory of Sierra Leone" did not constitute a crime. The Appeals Chamber rescued the prosecution from its misstep by concluding that "although the objective of gaining and exercising political power and control over the territory of Sierra Leone may not be a crime under the Statute, the actions contemplated as a means to achieve that objective are crimes within the Statute".

The ruling on joint criminal enterprise is "of significant importance for the trial of Charles Taylor", as chief prosecutor Stephen Rapp underlined during a Freetown press conference after the judgment. He added, "It is very important in conflicts where the person is not specifically present to recognize that many people work together, are involved in the crimes and help one another. Taylor was never at the scene [of the crimes]. The joint criminal enterprise is very important for holding him responsible. The judges will now have to rule in compliance with the Appeals Chamber."

Is Johnny-Paul Koroma dead?

Two things still remain uncertain following the conclusion of the SCSL's first trial. The first is where the guilty will serve their sentences. Court officials are considering transferring them out of Sierra Leone because detention conditions there do not meet UN standards. Austria and Sweden have signed detention agreements with the court. Transfers, however, would further weaken the hybrid nature of this court. The second uncertainty is the whereabouts of Johnny-Paul Koroma, the head of the AFRC from May 1997 to February 1998, who was indicted by the SCSL in March 2003 and has been on the run ever since. Rapp confided that he was 90% sure Koroma is dead. He stated that he would set "a deadline of 31 December 2008 to conclude if he is dead or allow the case to be tried". But with the SCSL scheduled to close in 2010 that leaves open the delicate question of who will try him.