The Paris Assize Court on Wednesday sentenced former Liberian rebel commander Kunti Kamara to thirty years in prison, tried on appeal for acts of barbarity and complicity in crimes against humanity during the first civil war in Liberia ( 1989-1997).
After three weeks of debates, the 49-year-old accused was found guilty of a series
of “inhumane acts of torture and barbarity”
against civilians in 1993-1994, including the ordeal inflicted on a teacher from whom he allegedly ate the heart, the killing of a woman described as a
“witch”
and forced marches imposed on the population.
According to the decision rendered after more than eight hours of deliberation, this former commander of the United Liberation Movement for Democracy (Ulimo) was also found guilty of having facilitated crimes against humanity through his indifference to the repeated rapes committed on two teenage girls who became sex slaves for soldiers under its authority in 1994. The court did not follow the requisitions of the public prosecutor who had demanded life imprisonment on Monday for acts of
“exceptional gravity for which Kunti Kamara is responsible”
.
The attorney general stressed that the accused exercised
“a power of command”
and that he had shown
“no repentance”
.
Kunti Kamara was sentenced to life in prison at first instance at the end of 2022 during an unprecedented trial which was held under the
“universal jurisdiction”
exercised by France, under certain conditions, to judge the most serious crimes committed outside its soil.