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| |  | | Morris Kallon | | | context : | Sierra Leone  | | judgement place : | Sierra Leone Special Court | | status : | Sentenced | | particulars : | Trial began on 5 June 2004 before the Special Court for Sierra Leone; found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity and sentenced to 39 years imprisonment on 8 April 2009; sentence confirmed by the Appeals Chamber on 26 October 2009 | | position : | Military Commander in the RUF |
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| | | | Morris Kallon was arrested and transferred to the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) on 10 March 2003.
Morris Kallon was indicted on 17 different counts on 7 March 2003. He was charged with crimes against humanity, violations of Art. 3 common to the Geneva Conventions and of Additional Protocol 11, and of other serious violations of international humanitarian law, as set out in Articles 2, 3 and 4 of the Statute of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL). An 18th count was later added.
At his initial court appearance on 15, 17 and 21 March 2003, he pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
The bill of indictment held that at all times relevant to the allegations, starting from 30 November 1996, a state of armed conflict existed within Sierra Leone, and that a link existed between the conflict in question and all acts or omissions with which he was charged as violations of Articles 2, 3 and 4 of the Statute of the SCSL.
As stated in the bill of indictment, Morris Kallon, as well as all other members of the armed factions engaged in fighting in Sierra Leone, was required to abide by International Humanitarian Law and the laws and customs governing the conduct of armed hostilities.
According to the bill of indictment, the RUF and the AFRC, to which Morris Kallon belonged, shared a common plan and purpose, thereby forming a joint criminal enterprise which was created to take any actions necessary to gain and exercise political power and control over the territory of Sierra Leone, in particular the diamond mining areas.
The purpose of this joint criminal enterprise included gaining and exercising control over the population in order to prevent or minimise resistance to their geographic control, and to use members of the population to support the RUF/AFRC. The crimes alleged in the indictment, which included unlawful killings, abductions, forced labour, physical and sexual violence, use of child soldiers, and the looting and burning of civilian structures, were either acts committed by the joint criminal enterprise or were reasonably foreseeable consequences of it.
According to the bill of indictment, Morris Kallon had individual criminal responsibility for the crimes mentioned above, which he reportedly planned, instigated, ordered, committed or i otherwise aided or abetted or was held to be individually responsible since these crimes were committed within a joint criminal enterprise in which he participated.
In addition, or alternatively, the indictment held him responsible, in his position as hierarchical superior, for the crimes committed by his subordinates in that he knew or had reason to know and failed to take the necessary measures to prevent such acts or punish the perpetrators thereof.
Therefore, on the basis of his acts or omissions, committed directly by himself or by reason of his responsibility as hierarchical superior, Morris Kallon was accused of:
- crimes against humanity for: extermination, murder, rape, sexual slavery, other forms of sexual violence, enslavement in addition to other inhumane acts;
- violation of Art. 3 common to the Geneva Conventions and of Additional Protocol II for: acts of terrorism and collective punishment against the civilian population, violence to life health and physical and mental well being of persons, in particular through mutilations, outrages upon personal dignity, pillaging abductions and holding as hostages;
- other serious breaches of international humanitarian law through the enrolment of children under fifteen years of age in the armed forces and by the deliberate attacks on humanitarian assistance personnel and peacekeepers.
On 28 February 2003, the SCSL ordained the junction of the Kallon, Gbao and Sesay cases and the hearing of a common trial.
On 13 March, the Appeals Court of the SCSL rejected the appeal lodged by Morris Kallon and Hassan Sesay, who argued that the Court was not competent to prosecute crimes falling under the amnesty accorded by Article IX of the Lomé Accord of 7 July 1999 (see under “spotlight”).
The trial commenced before the SCSL on 5 June 2004.
On 17 September, the Appeal Court refused Morris Kallon’s request for release on bail.
The trial was held before the same Trial Chamber as the Civil Defence Force (CDF)-trial. The Chamber divided its time equally between the two cases, thus dedicating six months a year to each of them.
The prosecution called 86 witnesses and concluded its case on 2 August 2006.
The defence then submitted a request, based on rule 98 of the SCSL's Rules of Procedure, demanding that the defendants be acquitted at that stage in the proceedings pointing out that the Prosecutor had failed to present sufficient proof over certain aspects of the case. The court decided on 25 October 2006 to deny this request overall, but allowedthe exception of certain places and villages mentioned in the indictment concerning which the Prosecutor had indeed failed to present sufficient proof. These places and villages were thus deleted from the indictment and were no longer subject to the proceedings.
The defence case opened on 2 May 2007 and ended on 25 June 2008.
The closing arguments took place on 4 and 5 August 2008.
On 25 February 2009, the Court found Sesay and Morris Kallon guilty of 16 of the 18 charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes. It convicted Augustine Gbao of 14 charges.
On 8 April 2009 Kallon was sentenced to a total of 340 years in prison, by taking into account the individual sentences handed down for each of the 16 counts. However since these sentences were to be served concurrently, he will spend a maximum of 39 years in prison.
By reason of its Statute, the Special Court for Sierra Leone cannot impose a life sentence. | |     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 : | | | 01.01.1964 | | | also known as : | | | Bilai Karim | | | last time seen : | | | Rwanda | | | judgement period : | | | 05.06.2004 - 26.10.2009 | | | charges : | | | Crimes against humanity
War crimes | | | profile last modified : | | | 23.12.2009 |
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