Sam Bockarie - Indictment For Crimes Against Humanity

Indictment For Crimes Against Humanity

On 3 March 2003, Sam Bockarie was indicted for crimes against humanity, violation of the Geneva Convention and violation of international humanitarian law. He has been slated for trial by the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL). Bockarie was accused of colluding with the AFRC/RUF coalition to take over much of Sierra Leone, particularly the diamond rich areas such as the Kenema and Kono districts. During this time, Bockarie commanded his troops to attack civilian populations who he felt were supporting the government of Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, including the use of mutilation and sexual violence. These attacks brought to the world the horrific images of children with missing arms and legs. He was also accused of recruiting child soldiers and abducting people to fight with him, and of attacking UN peacekeepers working under UNAMSIL.

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