Prosecuting International Crimes in Africa - PULP - University of ...

Prosecution and punishment of international crimes by the Special Court for Sierra Leone 113
as well as to “acts of looting committed by individual soldiers for their
private gain”’. 97
2.5.3 Attacks on peacekeepers
The SCSL has developed law on crimes against humanity and war crimes
by prosecuting individuals who attacked peacekeepers in Sierra Leone.
Article 4(b) of the Statute of the SCSL makes it a crime to attack
peacekeepers and a serious violation of international humanitarian law.
The RUF Trial signifies the court’s strong position on attacks against
peacekeepers – as crimes against humanity and war crimes. The
Prosecutor of the SCSL charged Sesay, Kallon and Gbao with counts of
murder as a crime against humanity and a war crime for the killing of
United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) peacekeepers as
part of the widespread attack against civilian population. Further, the
accused were charged with serious violations of international
humanitarian law for ‘intentionally directing attacks against personnel
involved in a peacekeeping mission, specifically the UNAMSIL
peacekeeping personnel’. 98 The SCSL found the accused guilty of crimes
against humanity and war crimes for directing attacks against
peacekeepers. 99
2.6 Application of international humanitarian law to noninternational
armed conflicts
In order to apply international humanitarian law to the conflict in Sierra
Leone, the Appeals Chamber had first to determine the nature of the
armed conflict that existed in Sierra Leone. Having noted that article 3 of
the Statute of the SCSL does not define internal armed conflict, it
concluded that – ‘whether the conflict in Sierra Leone was of an internal
or international character and at which point, if any, it became
internationalised, does not have any bearing on the applicability of Articles
3 and 4 of the Statute and therefore need not be considered by the Appeals
Chamber’. 100 The Chamber took judicial notice on the matter. There was
a non-international armed conflict in Sierra Leone.
The Appeals Chamber considered the application of article 3 common
to the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol II and noted that
article 3 of the Statute of the SCSL is taken from the Geneva Conventions
97 See Prosecutor v Delalic et al Judgment, Trial Chamber of the ICTY, 16 November 1998
98
para 590.
Prosecutor v Sesay, Kallon and Gbao (Case SCSL-04-15-T) Judgment Summary 25
99
100
February 2009 paras 4-6.
Prosecutor v Sesay, Kallon and Gbao paras 57-72.
Prosecutor v Fofana Decision on preliminary motion on lack of jurisdiction materiae:
Nature of the armed conflict 25 May 2004 paras 31-32.