The Supreme Court of Switzerland has confirmed this Friday the 20-year prison sentence imposed on Alieu Kosiah, former commander of the rebel group United Liberation Movement for Democracy in Liberia (ULIMO), for war crimes perpetrated during the civil war in Liberia between 1989 and 1996.
Kosiah had initially been sentenced in June 2021 to 20 years in prison for rape, murder and cannibalism. Following that decision, the former commander filed an appeal before a lower instance, which was dismissed in 2023. Now, the Supreme Court has also rejected his appeal, so the judicial proceedings are definitively closed.
However, the Swiss Justice has decided to exonerate him of the charges of crimes against humanity after examining whether the acts attributed to the warlord between 1993 and 1995 in Liberia could fit this criminal offense, which was not incorporated into the Swiss Penal Code until 2011.
The high court understands that punishing him for this crime would amount to a retroactive application of the law contrary to the principle of legality, according to the newspaper "Sarganserlaender". "This is a historic decision, made possible thanks to the courage of the victims, who have written a page in legal history," said Alain Werner, director of Civitas Maxima, the NGO that acts on behalf of the victims in this process.
Arrested in Switzerland in 2014, Kosiah, 51, had already been found guilty in 2021 of various crimes, among them rape, murder and cannibalism.
The former head of ULIMO has been convicted of ordering the murder of thirteen civilians and two unarmed soldiers, personally killing four civilians, raping a civilian woman, ordering cruel treatment against seven civilians, desecrating the dignity of a deceased person, repeatedly ordering cruel and humiliating treatment against the civilian population, personally inflicting these abuses on several occasions, ordering looting and using minors as child soldiers.