Top Swiss court upholds landmark Liberia war crimes ruling

​The top Swiss ​court on Friday confirmed ‌a guilty ​verdict against a Liberian warlord, upholding his 20 year sentence in ‌the country's first ever war crimes trial.

Alieu Kosiah, who fought in the 1990s against then-president Charles Taylor's army ‌during Liberia's brutal civil war, was originally sentenced to ‌20 years in prison in June 2021 for rape, murder and cannibalism. An earlier appeal was rejected in 2023 by ⁠the ​Federal Criminal Court ⁠and the dismissal of his second appeal by Switzerland's highest tribunal ⁠the Federal Supreme Court published on Friday closes the case.

"This ​is a landmark decision, made possible by ⁠the courage of these victims, who have written a page of ⁠legal ​history," said Alain Werner, Director of Civitas Maxima, an NGO representing victims in this case. However, the ⁠court reversed a parallel conviction for crimes against humanity on ⁠the ⁠grounds that the law on this crime introduced in 2011 cannot be applied ‌retroactively.