Justice for Sierra Leone

Advocates of international justice rejoiced this past Thursday, as some justice has been delivered to the former leader of the war-torn Liberia, Charles Taylor.

After being on trial for almost five years, the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) found Taylor guilty on 11 counts including terrorism, rape, slavery, use of child soldiers and other crimes against humanity. This verdict is significant not only being it represents the first head of state that has been convicted for atrocities that occurred in Sierra Leone during the civil war of the 1990s, but also as Taylor is the first head of state to be convicted of sexual crimes by an international tribunal.

As the rebels in Sierra Leone aimed to terrorize the civilians into submission, forces were particularly effective at robbing their victims of dignity, noted for stripped them in public and raping them in front of their families.

Taylor’s sentence is still forthcoming, and is expected to be handed down by the court May 30. Unlike the International Criminal Court, which has a maximum possible sentence of thirty years, there is no maximum sentence for the SCSL. What the court has in store for Taylor is hard to say. Past sentences from the court have ranged from six years as long as 52 years, as was handed down in the case of Issa Sesay, former senior military commander of the rebels in Sierra Leone. Fifty-two years. Considering some of the much heftier charges of life imprisonment or the death penalty that we still dole out in North America, a mere fifty-two years seems like a slap in the face to the victims and victim’s families in Sierra Leone. Keep in mind though, that the SCSL is an international tribunal, and as such, cannot carry out the death penalty. Moreover, the SCSL stipulates that sentences from the court must be of a definite period – so no life sentences.

Regardless, the conviction is a first step in finding reparation for some of Taylor’s gross wrongdoings. Perhaps after he serves his sentence with the SCSL, he can be tried for his crimes in his own country during Liberia’s civil war.