Special Court for Sierra Leone
The Office of the Prosecutor

PRESS RELEASE
Freetown, Sierra Leone, 10 March 2003

Statement by David M. Crane 
The Prosecutor 
Special Court for Sierra Leone

Today the people of Sierra Leone took back control of their lives and of their future. They have spoken as one voice, a voice that shouts "no more," a voice that declares to the world "never again." The dark days of the rule of the gun are over. The bright shining light of the law burns back the shadows of impunity in this ravaged country.

As the Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and on behalf of the people of Sierra Leone, today I announce the following approved indictments against:

Foday Saybana Sankoh, aka Popay, aka Papa, aka Pa, Johnny Paul Koroma, aka JPK, Sam Bockarie, aka Mosquito, aka Maskita, Issa Hassan Sesay, aka Issa Sesay, Alex Tamba Brima, aka Tamba Alex Brima, aka Gullit, Morris Kallon, aka Bilai Karim, and Sam Hinga Norman; for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and violations of international humanitarian law.

Specifically the crimes alleged within the indictments include murder, rape, extermination, acts of terror, enslavement, looting and burning, sexual slavery, conscription of children into an armed force, and attacks on UNAMSIL peacekeepers and humanitarian assistance workers, among others.

Indictees Sankoh, Sesay, Brima, Kallon, and Norman currently are in our custody. I call upon the people of Sierra Leone and West Africa to turn over indictees Koroma and Bockarie. They are indicted war criminals with outstanding warrants for their arrest.

This is an historic day for Sierra Leone and West Africa. A just and sustainable peace looms on the horizon for all who move towards this new dawn.

The international criminal case continues. Further indictments will follow.

I will leave you with a quote by Robert Jackson, the Prosecutor at Nuremberg, quoting from his opening statement on 21 November 1945:

"We are able to do away with domestic tyranny and violence and aggression by those in power against the rights of their own people only when we make all men answerable to the law."

Thank you.

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