Five people go on trial at the United Nations backed Special Court for Sierra Leone Friday, charged with contempt for interfering with prosecution witnesses, a court statement said.

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The accused face a total of 18 charges for "interfering with prosecution witnesses who had testified in two separate trials before the court".

They include two convicted former leaders of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), Ibrahim Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu, who are serving lengthy sentences for war crimes for their role in the 1991-2001 Sierra Leone civil war.

They will testify via video link from Rwanda where they are imprisoned.

Two residents of Sierra Leone, Hassan Papa Bangura and Samuel Kargbo, are charged alongside Kamara and Kanu "with two counts of attempting to bribe a witness to recant his previous testimony".

Former Revolutionary United Front rebel Eric Senessie is charged with attempting to induce prosecution witnesses in the ongoing trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, to recant testimony they gave before the court.

If convicted, the accused could face prison sentences of up to seven years, fines of up to $500 or both.

Sierra Leone's special court was set up to try those who bore the "greatest responsibility" for atrocities during the country's war in which people were terrorised with rape and having their limbs hacked off.

Judgement is awaited on its final case, the prosecution of Taylor or his role in the brutal decade-long war which left more than 50,000 dead and thousands mutilated.

Source: AFP

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