Special Court for Sierra Leone
Press and Public Affairs Office

PRESS RELEASE
Freetown, Sierra Leone, 2 June 2003    

Special Court Obtains Bockarie's Alleged Body

The alleged body of indicted war criminal Sam Bockarie arrived in Freetown Sunday. Special Court officials took charge of the corpse to verify its identity.

An independent medical team will begin an autopsy starting Monday to determine the true identity of the body and the manner death. Results are expected in a few days.

Bockarie was indicted last March by the the Special Court under its mandate to try those who bear the greatest responsibility for recent atrocities that took place in Sierra Leone. He was one of two indictees that were not arrested and on the run.

The Liberian government had said he was killed earlier this month while resisting arrest. However it delayed repatriating the body to Sierra Leone to undertake its own investigations.

Officials from the Office of the Prosecutor for Special Court disputed the claim, questioning whether the body is in fact Bockarie and citing evidence that the government forces had killed members of Bockarie's family.

On … ? the government of Liberia handed the body to the Sierra Leone Ambassador in Liberia's capital Monrovia. He flew with it to Sierra Leone and transferred it to Court officials.

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