FREETOWN
New Sierra Leone envoy to the European Union told King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and EU Commission President Jose Barrosso that Sierra Leone remains committed to international justice through the international criminal court at the Hague.
The new envoy, Mr Ibrahim Sorie, while presenting his credentials said the west African country that was ravaged by politically instigated ethnic cleansing in the 1990s. Sierra Leone, backed by the UN, instituted a special court which recently saw the sentencing of former Liberian President Charles Taylor to serve 50 years in jail over the brutal mass killings during the civil war.
Mr Sorie was quoted as saying Sierra Leone was committed to both the ICC and ICJ. The country signed the Rome Statute in 1998 and ratified it 2000.
“The government and people of Sierra Leone are grateful to the government and people of the Netherlands for not only hosting these two important international courts, but for also accommodating thousands of Sierra Leoneans who fled the country during those dark days of our crisis,†he said.
In 2011 the country’s current Attorney General and Minister for Justice even suggested the use of the Freetown-based Special Court for the trial of former leader of Chad, Hissene Habre, who is accused of human rights violations.