PRESIDENT OF UN-BACKED WAR CRIMES COURT IN SIERRA LEONE RE-ELECTED

PRESIDENT OF UN-BACKED WAR CRIMES COURT IN SIERRA LEONE RE-ELECTED

Justice Jon M. Kamanda of Sierra Leone has been re-elected unanimously to a third term as  Presiding Judge of the Appeals Chamber of the United Nations-backed war crimes tribunal set up to deal with crimes  committed during the civil war in that West African nation.

The selection as appeals court presiding judge, voted last month in a plenary session of judges in The Hague, automatically makes him the President of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL).

Justice Emmanuel Ayoola of Nigeria has also been re-elected as Vice-President, according to a press release issued today by the court from Freetown, the Sierra Leonean capital.

The Special Court is an independent tribunal established jointly by Sierra Leone's Government and the UN in 2002. It is mandated to try those who bear the greatest responsibility for atrocities committed in Sierra Leone after 30 November 1996.

The trials of three former leaders of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), two members of the Civil Defence Forces (CDF) and three former leaders of the Revolutionary United Front have been completed, including appeals.

The trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, which is taking place in The Hague, is currently in the defence phase.