Psychiatric tests for rebel chief
2003-03-24 22:34
Freetown - Former Sierra Leone rebel leader Foday Sankoh is to undergo psychiatric tests to determine if he is mentally fit to stand trial before a UN war crimes court, a statement by the tribunal said on Monday.
Sankoh, who is around 70 years old, has not responded to any questions put to him by the UN court since his trial began on March 15.
"After receiving an initial psychiatric report on the alleged leader of the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) Foday Saybana Sankoh, Special Court Judge Benjamin M Itoe called for further psychiatric examinations," the statement said.
Sankoh and three other RUF leaders have been indicted by the UN war crimes court on crimes ranging from "murder, rape, extermination, acts of terror, enslavement, looting and burning, sexual slavery, conscription of children into an armed force".
Sankoh founded and led the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which in 1991 started a decade-long war against the government that was marked by its brutality.
Thousands of civilians had their limbs hacked off during the conflict in the west African state, one of the world's poorest countries despite its large diamond reserves. Mass rape was also used to terrorise the population.
Sankoh, who has been in detention for some two years, is in ill health and doubts have been cast on his mental condition.
The prosecution asked Itoe to enter a not guilty plea on behalf of Sankoh after the feared former rebel leader failed to respond to questions at the UN court hearing.
But Itoe rejected the request, saying "all three judges of the trial chambers needed to make a determination", the statement said.
The trials of Sankoh and three co-defendants - RUF commanders Issa Sesay and Morris Kallon, and Alex Brima, a senior member of a former military junta in which the rebels were also present - were adjourned to an unspecified date.
The closed trial of former Sierra Leone internal affairs minister, Chief Samuel Hinga Norman, who was arrested early this month, went ahead in a secret location, the statement said.
Norman controlled a government-backed civil militia during Sierra Leone's civil war, comprising mainly traditional 'kamajor' hunters, who were also accused of atrocities.
About 200 000 people were killed and thousands more deliberately mutilated in Sierra Leone's war.
The independent UN court, staffed by a mixed international personnel of judges and prosecutors and investigators as well as Sierra Leone staff, judges and prosecutors, was set up in January last year, when the war was formally declared over.
The tribunal does not have the power to mete out the death sentence. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA