A French court has convicted and sentenced Liberian warlord Kunti Kamara to life in prison for complicity in crimes against humanity, torture and barbarism following a dramatic three-week trial here in the French capital.
After nine hours of deliberation the nine-person jury found Kamara, 47, guilty on all 11 counts in his indictment for crimes committed while he was a commander with the United Liberation Movement for Democracy (Ulimo) rebel group in Foya, Lofa County in northern Liberia in 1993.
Court president President, Thierry Fusina, read the unanimous verdict over seven tense minutes.
“For crimes against humanity, the jury says ‘yes’,” Fusina said. “For torture and barbarism, you are guilty.” At the end of the charges Fusina announced the punishment. “With the votes, you are sentenced to life imprisonment.” In France life imprisonment is 30 years, the maximum sentence under French law.
Kamara listened keenly as the judge read the counts. He looked closely at the jury and expressed no emotion as the sentence was announced. Fusina told Kamara that he has 10 days to appeal the decision.
This trial has been groundbreaking in several ways. Kamara is just the second Liberian to be convicted for his or her role in any of the country’s two civil wars.
The first was Alieu Kosiah, another former Ulimo commander who was sentenced to 20 years in a Swiss court last year. His appeal will be heard in January.
Sierra Leonean Gibril Massaquoi was acquitted of charges he committed war crimes in Liberia by a Finnish court last year. That acquittal is also being appealed.
Two more Liberians – Mohammed Jabateh of Ulimo and Tom Woewiyu of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front – were found guilty of criminal immigration fraud for lying about their war crimes by a US court in 2017 and 2018. Jabateh is serving 30 years.
