Alieu Kosiah case: verdict date announced
Alieu Kosiah, former ULIMO commander, stood trial in Bellinzona, Switzerland, in December 2020 and in February 2021 for four weeks for the crimes he allegedly committed in Lofa County, Liberia, between 1993 and 1996. He is charged with 25 counts of war crimes, including murders, forced transports, looting, rape, and recruitment of a child soldier. The Swiss Federal Criminal Court announced today that the judgment will be rendered on June 18, 2021 at 1.30pm. Alieu Kosiah pleaded not guilty, and the Federal Prosecutor requested the sentence of 20 years in prison.
This is a landmark case as the Defendant is the first Liberian national to be tried for war crimes connected to the Liberian civil wars (1989-1997, 1999-2003); it is also the first time the Swiss Federal Criminal Court held a war crime trial.
Of the seven plaintiffs that testified, four of them were represented in Court by the lawyers of Civitas Maxima, which had filed a complaint against Kosiah in 2014. “Kosiah’s trial is the first step towards ending impunity in Liberia” stated Fayah Williams, Deputy Director of the Global Justice and Research Project “people who allegedly have committed crimes and crimes against humanity during the civil wars have always thought they were above the law. Some of the plaintiffs in the Alieu Kosiah case chose to come twice from Liberia during Ebola and later the COVID-19 pandemic to share their testimony in Switzerland. Their example will encourage other victims to come forward.”
To learn more about Alieu Kosiah, visit our case page.
