PARIS, France
A former Liberian rebel is going on trial Monday in Paris on charges of crimes against humanity, torture and acts of barbarism during the West African country’s civil war in the 1990s.
Kunti Kamara, 47, is notably
accused of “complicity in massive and systematic torture and inhumane acts”
against the civilian population committed in Liberia’s Lofa county in
1993-1994, as one of the leaders of the Ulimo armed group. He was then less
than 20 years old.
He was arrested near Paris in
2018 and faces life imprisonment.
The trial by the Paris
criminal court has been made possible under a French law that recognizes
universal jurisdiction for crimes against humanity and acts of torture.
Rights groups hailed it as an
important step to bring justice to victims.
It is “a victory for Liberian
victims and a warning to perpetrators that no matter where they are, we’re
going to make sure they’re held accountable for the crimes they committed in
Liberia,” Hassan Bility, head of the Global Justice and Research Project, told
the Associated Press. Bility’s nongovernmental organization is dedicated to the
documentation of wartime atrocities in Liberia and to assisting victims in
their pursuit of justice for these crimes.
Human Rights Watch and the
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) stressed in a statement that
Liberia’s first civil war was especially marked by “violence against civilians,
as warring factions massacred and raped civilians, pillaged, and forced
children to kill and fight.”
Elise Keppler, associate
international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said the trial is
especially important in the context of “the failure of Liberian authorities to
hold to account those responsible for serious crimes during the civil wars.”
“France’s trial for atrocities
in Liberia reinforces the importance of the principle of universal jurisdiction
to ensure that the worst crimes do not go unpunished,” said ClĂ©mence Bectarte,
a lawyer who coordinates FIDH’s Litigation Action Group, in a statement.
Liberia’s back-to-back civil
wars killed an estimated 250,000 people between 1989 and 2003.
The country’s post-war truth and reconciliation commission in 2009 recommended prosecution for dozens of ex-warlords and their commanders bearing greatest responsibilities for the war.
But successive governments
have largely ignored the recommendations, much to the disappointment and
frustration of war victims.
Political analysts say this is
largely because some of the key players in the war have occupied influential
positions in government, including in the legislature, since the end of the war
nearly 30 years ago.
The current president, George
Weah, spoke against impunity for war crimes when he was in opposition, but has
shown reluctance to respond to citizens’ calls for the establishment of a war
crimes court.
During her visit to Liberia
last week, the U.S. ambassador on war crimes, Dr. Beth Van Schaack, promised
her government would “100%” support Liberia if the country decided to establish
a court to look into its past.
Expressing disappointment that
Liberia is still lagging behind in fostering transitional justice, she assured
Liberians she will recommend “that if something starts to move, that we should
be a partner in that effort.”
The Paris trial, scheduled to
last four weeks, is the fifth dealing with crimes against humanity and torture
in France. Previous cases concerned crimes related to the 1994 genocide in
Rwanda.
In a rare occurrence in
France, the trial is to be filmed to constitute historical archives.
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