Sexual Crimes in Conflict Database

A collection of relevant literature and case law

Showing all 1 results.

  • Jurisprudence judicial mechanism

    SCSL - Allieu Kondewa (“Fofana & Kondewa”)

    Year
    2003
    Issues
    Achievements and Challenges of Sexual Violence Prosecution Procedural Rules Advancing Sexual Violence Prosecutions
    Country
    Sierra Leone
    Keywords
    Charges Filed too Late Forced Miscarriage

    Reference link
    http://www.rscsl.org/CDF.html
    Type of mechanism
    Hybrid court
    Name of mechanism
    Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL)
    Name of accused
    Allieu Kondewa
    Charges
    Kondewa was not charged with sexual violence in the indictment. However, the Prosecution requested, before the start of the trial, the inclusion of sexual violence charges, i.e. rape, sexual slavery and other inhumane acts (e.g. forced marriage) as crimes against humanity and outrages upon personal dignity as a war crime. The request was dismissed by the Trial Chamber before the start of the trial. On appeal, the Prosecution alleged that the Trial Chamber committed an error of law and fact. As a remedy, the Prosecution sought a reversal by the Appeals Chamber of the Trial Chamber’s legal reasoning and a declaration to that effect only. The Prosecution did not request the Appeals Chamber to substitute any additional conviction or to order any trial proceedings. The Appeals Chamber held (on 28 May 2003) that the Prosecution’s request was an academic exercise only (with dissenting opinion Judge Winter).
    Trial chamber verdict
    At trial, the Trial Chamber did not allow evidence of sexual violence because these crimes were not specifically pleaded in the indictment. This would infringe upon the rights of the Accused. The Appeals Chamber, however, held that evidence of sexual violence was relevant to charges in the indictment and that the Trial Chamber had erred in denying such evidence. In addition, the accused was put on notice of such evidence.
    sentencing
    In light of the above developments, Kondewa was not charged and convicted for sexual violence crimes. He received a sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment on 28 May 2003.
    Status
    2715
    Case number
    SCSL-04-14

This is free software. Created with LinkAhead and Django. Licenced under AGPL version 3.0 (Sources).