Newsdeck

Newsdeck

Swiss court jails Liberian commander in war crimes case

GENEVA, June 18 (Reuters) - The Swiss Federal Court on Friday sentenced a Liberian commander to 20 years in jail in the country's first war crimes trial, lawyers for an NGO involved in the case said.

Alieu Kosiah, 46, faced 25 charges including killings of civilians, rape, recruiting a child soldier and an act of cannibalism.

Romain Wavre who has worked as a legal counsel on the case for the NGO Civitas Maxima, told Reuters Kosiah had been convicted on almost all of the charges, without specifying which ones. “20 years in prison,” Wavre said.

Kosiah was arrested in 2014 in Switzerland, where he had been living as a permanent resident. A 2011 Swiss law allows prosecution for serious crimes committed anywhere, under the principle of universal jurisdiction. (Reporting by Emma Farge; Editing by Alison Williams and Andrew Heavens)

Gallery

Comments - Please in order to comment.

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.