Sierra Leone war crimes tribunal convicts three
A UN-backed court today convicted three former members of a Sierra Leone junta for war crimes in the country's brutal, decade-long civil war.
The court found the three defendants guilty on 12 counts out of 14 charges, according to the ruling read in Freetown.
They were convicted for acts of terrorism, using child soldiers, enslavement, rape and murder, among others.
They were acquitted of charges of sexual slavery and "other inhumane acts".
The tribunal was set up following the end of fighting in 2002 to prosecute the worst offenders in a conflict that ravaged the small West African nation and spilled over into neighbouring Liberia.
The court has indicted 12 people, including former Liberian President Charles Taylor, who is charged with backing Sierra Leonean rebels.
The three convicted - Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu - were indicted in 2003 as the alleged leaders of the group, called the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council.
It comprises former military men who toppled Sierra Leone's government in a 1997 coup and then teamed up with rebels to control the country, according to the indictment.
