Top Swiss court upholds landmark Liberia war crimes ruling

By Emma Farge

GENEVA, Oct 30 (Reuters) – The top Swiss court on Friday confirmed a guilty verdict against a Liberian warlord, upholding his 20 year sentence in the country’s first ever war crimes trial.

Alieu Kosiah, who fought in the 1990s against then-president Charles Taylor’s army during Liberia’s brutal civil war, was originally sentenced to 20 years in prison in June 2021 for rape, murder and cannibalism.

An earlier appeal was rejected in 2023 by the Federal Criminal Court and the dismissal of his second appeal by Switzerland’s highest tribunal the Federal Supreme Court published on Friday closes the case.

“This is a landmark decision, made possible by the courage of these victims, who have written a page of legal history,” said Alain Werner, Director of Civitas Maxima, an NGO representing victims in this case.

However, the court reversed a parallel conviction for crimes against humanity on the grounds that the law on this crime introduced in 2011 cannot be applied retroactively.

(Reporting by Emma Farge, Editing by Friederike Heine)