Switzerland’s supreme court has upheld a 20-year prison sentence for former Liberian rebel commander Alieu Kosiah, though it overturned a separate conviction against him for crimes against humanity.
In 2021, Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court found Kosiah, now 51, guilty of multiple atrocities committed during the first of Liberia’s back-to-back civil wars. The conflict, which lasted from 1989 to 2003, resulted in the deaths of approximately 250,000 people. Kosiah had settled in Switzerland in the late 1990s before his arrest in 2014.
The appeals chamber in 2023 reaffirmed his 20-year sentence for war crimes and additionally ruled that Kosiah was guilty of crimes against humanity, marking a legal first in Swiss history. Following a further review, the Federal Supreme Court issued a verdict dated September 28, which was made public on Friday.
In its statement, the supreme court announced it rejected the appeal filed by the high-ranking Liberian military official challenging his conviction for violations of the laws of war committed between 1993 and 1995. However, the court acquitted him of the charge of crimes against humanity based on a strict application of the principle of non-retroactivity. Switzerland operates under the principle of universal jurisdiction, allowing it to prosecute individuals suspected of international crimes regardless of where they were committed. The supreme court noted that because the offence of crimes against humanity was only introduced into Swiss law in 2011, it could not be applied retroactively to acts committed in the mid-1990s.
Despite the partial acquittal on that specific charge, Kosiah’s conviction for violating the laws of war stands, alongside the maximum 20-year custodial sentence originally imposed. Legal advocates emphasized the significance of the remaining conviction.
The ruling finalizes the first war crimes conviction ever handed down by a Swiss civilian court, as well as the first conviction anywhere of a Liberian for war crimes committed during the nation’s civil conflicts, according to the Geneva-based organization Civitas Maxima, which assists victims in the proceedings.
Alain Werner, director of Civitas Maxima and legal representative for the victims, stated that survivors of Kosiah’s crimes have finally received justice. However, Werner expressed disappointment regarding the overturned charge, noting that the events in Lofa County between 1993 and 1995 constituted the definition of crimes against humanity.
Under international and domestic legal frameworks, both war crimes and crimes against humanity involve severe atrocities such as murder, torture, and rape. While war crimes can encompass specific battlefield violations, crimes against humanity specifically target acts carried out in a widespread or systematic manner.
During the initial 2021 proceedings, the court found Kosiah guilty as a commander of the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy rebel group. The trial established that he had ordered or participated in the killings of 17 civilians and two unarmed soldiers, engaged in rape, and deployed a child soldier. The verdict also detailed that he ordered looting, inflicted cruel and humiliating treatment on civilians, and mishandled human remains.
