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Dictionary of Gross Human Rights Violations

Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL)

The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) is a hybrid court (partly international and partly national), based in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and created in 2002 by the UN and the government of Sierra Leone to address serious crimes committed during the Sierra Leone conflict. The court has jurisdiction over crimes against humanity and war crimes and is tasked with trying only those individuals with the greatest responsibility (those with lesser responsibility are being tried in national courts).

The Trial Chamber of the Court has six judges (four UN-appointed and two nominated by the Government of Sierra Leone). There is also an Appeals Chamber of five judges (three UN appointees, and two appointed by Sierra Leone). One of the unique features of the court is that it has an Office of the Defence in charge of coordinating the defence of the various indictees and distributing the budget for that purpose.

To date the court has indicted eleven defendants with eight in custody and in various stages of the trial process. The indictments against Foday Sankoh and Sam Bockarie were dropped after their deaths. Only Johnny Paul Karoma is still at large (he was suspected to have been killed in 2003 but decisive evidence of that matter has not been presented so the indictment still stands). Although each individual was separately indicted the trials have been consolidated into three: the RUF (Revolutionary United Front) trial of Augustine Gbao, Morris Kallon, and Issa Sesay; the CDF (Civil Defence Forces) trial of Samuel Hinga Norman, Moinina Fofana, and Allieu Kondewa; and the AFRC (Armed Forces Revolutionary Front (AFRC) trial of Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara, and Santigie Borbour Kanu.

In 2006 Charles Taylor (former President of Liberia) was transferred to The Hague (a change of venue was requested to prevent regional destabilisation) for trial. Charles Taylor is the first African head of state to be tried in an international court. The joint criminal enterprise theory of criminal responsibility (whereby membership in a criminal organisation with knowledge that this organisation engaged in criminal activities is sufficient to establish criminal responsibility for specific crimes) is being used in the prosecutions. The SCSL has been wracked with several problems including funding uncertainty, equality of arms issues (the defence has fewer resources at its disposal than the prosecution), and questions about the choice of indictees (are they really those bearing the “greatest responsibility”?).

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