{"id":1536,"date":"2021-03-03T11:02:19","date_gmt":"2021-03-03T15:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ielrblog.com\/?p=1536"},"modified":"2021-03-03T11:02:19","modified_gmt":"2021-03-03T15:02:19","slug":"two-for-two-the-efforts-of-two-european-nations-in-holding-war-criminals-accountable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2021\/03\/03\/two-for-two-the-efforts-of-two-european-nations-in-holding-war-criminals-accountable\/","title":{"rendered":"Two for Two: the Efforts of Two European Nations in Holding War Criminals Accountable"},"content":{"rendered":"

On February 3, 2021, the trial of Gibril Massaquoi, also known as the \u201cAngel Gabriel,\u201d began<\/a> in Finland. Massaquoi is accused of committing serious war crimes, including \u201calleged direct or indirect participation in rapes, murders, cannibalism and using child soldiers,\u201d as a leader of the Revolutionary United Front, a rebel group in Sierra Leone involved in the Liberian Civil War. Meanwhile, the trial of Alieu Kosiah, a commander of the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy, is also underway in Switzerland. His charges include <\/a>\u201c18 murders, rape, forced recruitment of children to serve as soldiers, enslavement, looting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Background<\/em><\/p>\n

In the wake of civil conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leona, the two nations have taken different approaches in handling war criminals. In Liberia, the post-war Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended amnesty <\/a>for criminals who felt remorse for their crimes. Those who were not given amnesty were recommended for prosecution. This prosecution never came, and no Liberian war criminal has ever been convicted.<\/p>\n

In contrast, Sierra Leone, a neighboring state facing a similar justice quandary, created a special court for the purpose of trying specific war criminals. <\/a>This court tried 10 individuals and found nine guilty<\/a> of crimes<\/u>.<\/p>\n

The confounding element is that despite these two different approaches, two former war criminals, one from Sierra Leone and one from Liberia, are being tried in two separate European countries, Finland and Switzerland, respectively.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Two Case Studies in Justice<\/em><\/p>\n

In Finland, \u00a0Gibril Massaquoi, also known as the \u201cAngel Gabriel,<\/a>\u201d began trial in early February for charges of serious war crimes, including \u201calleged direct or indirect participation in rapes, murders, cannibalism and using child soldiers.\u201d While his group the Revolutionary United Front was Sierra Leonean, they committed atrocities in Liberia, all of which occurred from 1999 to 2003 during the Liberian Civil War.<\/p>\n

Massoqoui was a witness in the UN-Backed Special Court for Sierra Leone. He was relocated<\/a> to Finland in 2008 as part of Witness-protection. Prior to trial, Massoquoi had been<\/a> living and working in Finland with his family for the past 10 years. Though the special court of Sierra Leone was unable to find justice for his victims, he may still held accountable for some of his crimes.<\/p>\n

A trial in Switzerland for Alieu Kosiah, a commander of the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy, is also underway<\/a>. His charges include <\/a>\u201c18 murders, rape, forced recruitment of children to serve as soldiers, enslavement, looting.\u201d This is the first non-military court trial due to hold a war criminal accountable. Another landmark feature of the trial is that Kosiah will be relocated to Liberia for hearings.<\/p>\n

Switzerland and Finland have both taken important actions against these two individuals alleged to have committed war crimes in Liberia. Hopefully, these latest trials will be enough to bring justice to the victims of the conflict in Liberia.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On February 3, 2021, the trial of Gibril Massaquoi, also known as the \u201cAngel Gabriel,\u201d began in Finland. Massaquoi is accused of committing serious war crimes, including \u201calleged direct or indirect participation in rapes, murders, cannibalism and using child soldiers,\u201d as a leader of the Revolutionary United Front, a rebel group in Sierra Leone involved […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1536","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nTwo for Two: the Efforts of Two European Nations in Holding War Criminals Accountable | IELR Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2021\/03\/03\/two-for-two-the-efforts-of-two-european-nations-in-holding-war-criminals-accountable\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Two for Two: the Efforts of Two European Nations in Holding War Criminals Accountable | IELR Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On February 3, 2021, the trial of Gibril Massaquoi, also known as the \u201cAngel Gabriel,\u201d began in Finland. 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