  | You have information to share ?
Or mistakes to correct ?
click here...
|
|
| |  | | Foday Sankoh | | | context : | Sierra Leone  | | judgement place : | Sierra Leone Special Court | | status : | Died before end of trial | | particulars : | Died in detentino | | position : | Leader of the RUF and the alliance between RUF and AFRC |
|
| | | | Foday Saybana Sankoh was born on 17 December 1937 in Masang Mayoso, Tonkolili district, Sierra Leone.
He was a corporal in the army of Sierra Leone and a photographer and cameraman for the television. In the 1970ies he was a student activist. After he served a short prison term for his student activities, he entered a Lybian guerilla camp led by Mohammar Gadhafi. There he met Charles Taylor, his financial mentor and allied in the conflict in Sierra Leone.
In 1998, Sankoh had been condemned to death for treason by the High Court of Justice in Freetown. He received however an amnesty on the basis of the Lomé Peace Agreement concluded in October 1998 by the government and the rebels, which provided for the pardon and amnesty of all the members of the RUF.
According to the indictment, Sankoh was the leader of the RUF and one of the principal leaders of the alliance between RUF and AFCR. He thus had the authority, control and command over the members of the RUF and the RUF/ AFRC alliance.
Even at times when his freedom of movement was restricted between 1997 and April 1999, and during his detention since May 2000 in Sierra Leone, he allegedly remained the leader of the RUF and co-leader of the alliance.
During the period relevant for the indictment, the RUF and AFRC are said to have, in coordination with or on orders of Sankoh, launched armed attacks on the territory of Sierra Leone. The principal targets of these attacks were the civilian population, humanitarian assistance operations and UN peacekeepers. The attacks allegedly served to terrorise the civilian population or to punish it for the lack of support for the RUF/ AFRC.
The attacks are said to have resulted in murders, physical and sexual violence against civilians (particularly mutilations), and pillaging.
A component of this terror campaign was the frequent abduction of women and girls in order to rape and reduce them to sexual slavery, of men and boys into forced labour, and of many children to forcibly recruit them into the conflict. | |     click for more... | | Trial Watch would like to remind its users that any person charged by national or international authorities is presumed innocent until proven guilty. | |  |  | | nationality : | | | Sierra leone | | | date of birth : | | | 17.10.1937 | | | period of charges : | | | 30.11.1996 | | | charges : | | | Crimes against humanity
War crimes | | | profile last modified : | | | 02.01.2005 |
| |
| | |
|
|
