Allieu Kondewa is a former traditional doctor in the

Kamajors The Kamajors were a group of traditional hunters from the Mende ethnic group in the south and east of Sierra Leone (mostly from the Bo, Sierra Leone, Bo district). The word "Kamajor" derived from Mende "kama soh", meaning traditional hunter with ...

tribe and military commander of the

Civil Defence Forces The Civil Defense Forces (CDF) was a paramilitary organization that fought in the Sierra Leone Civil War (1991–2002). It supported the elected government of Ahmed Tejan Kabbah against the rebel groups Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and Armed For ...

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

. He was born in the

Bo District Bo District is a district in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone. It is one of the sixteen Districts of Sierra Leone. Bo District is the fourth most populous District in Sierra Leone. Its capital city, capital and largest city is the city of ...

and lived served until his arrest and subsequent trial by the

Special Court for Sierra Leone The Special Court for Sierra Leone, or the "Special Court" (SCSL), also called the Sierra Leone Tribunal, was a judicial body set up by the government of Sierra Leone and the United Nations to "prosecute persons who bear the greatest responsibil ...

Trial and conviction

Kondewa's trial began on 3 June 2004 and was tried alongside his fellow ranking members of the CDF,

Moinina Fofana Moinina Fofana (born 1950 in Bullom, Bonthe District, British Sierra Leone) is a Sierra Leonean former military commander who was the leading general in the Kamajors militia and director of the Civil Defence Forces (CDF) during the Sierra Leone ...

and

Samuel Hinga Norman Samuel Hinga Norman (January 1, 1940 – February 22, 2007) was a Sierra Leonean politician from the Mende tribe. He was the founder and leader of the Civil Defence Forces, commonly known as the Kamajors. The Kamajors supported the government of ...

. On 2 August 2007 Kondewa and Fofana were convicted of the war crimes of

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

, violence to life and mental suffering,

pillage Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

, and

collective punishment Collective punishment is a punishment or sanction imposed on a group for acts allegedly perpetrated by a member of that group, which could be an ethnic or political group, or just the family, friends and neighbors of the perpetrator. Because ind ...

s. Kondewa was further found guilty of the war crime of the use of

child soldiers Children (defined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child as people under the age of 18) have been recruited for participation in military operations and campaigns throughout history and in many cultures. Children in the military, includ ...

. Kondewa was acquitted of related charges of

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...

and the war crime of

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

. On 9 October 2007, the Court sentenced Kondewa to eight years imprisonment."Jail for S Leone self-defence duo"
''BBC News'' 9 October 2007. Kondewa has appealed his conviction to the Court's Appeals Chamber.

Notes

External links

Sierra Leonean military personnel Living people Year of birth missing (living people) People convicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone People indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone Sierra Leonean people convicted of war crimes Sierra Leonean prisoners and detainees People of the Sierra Leone Civil War People from Bo District {{SierraLeone-mil-bio-stub