The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) Appeals Chamber upheld sentences for three former Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leaders Monday in the last ever judgement to be handed down in Freetown.

By Thijs Bouwknegt

The five-judge panel confirmed the sentences of 52 years for Issa Hassan Sesay, 40 years for Morris Kallon and 25 years for Augustine Gbao. In total, the court dismissed 96 defence grounds for appeal.

The men were convicted in February for overseeing a spree of killings, mutilations and rapes during the country’s civil war.

Monday’s judgment upholds first-ever convictions by an international tribunal for forced marriage as a crime against humanity, and for attacks against United Nations peacekeepers.

The ruling is the last to be handed down in Freetown. The SCSL’s only remaining case, the trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, is being held in The Hague.

Since 2004 the court has tried members of three main factions in the war: the Civil Defence Forces (CDF), the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and the RUF. However, the most notorious RUF frontman Foday Sankoh and Civil Defence leader Sam Hinga Norman died in prison.

RUF commander Sam Bockarie was killed in Liberia while the AFRC’s Johnny Paul Koroma is believed to be dead, although his indictment remains.

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