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Sierra Leone ex-warlord on conditional release after jail in Rwanda

By AFP
Rwanda Gbao, seen at his trial in the Sierra Leonean capital of Freetown in April 2009.  By HO AFPFile
DEC 24, 2020 LISTEN
Gbao, seen at his trial in the Sierra Leonean capital of Freetown in April 2009. By HO (AFP/File)

A Sierra Leonean rebel leader convicted of atrocities in the country's civil war has returned home to serve the remainder of a 25-year jail term, the country's special court said Wednesday.

Augustine Gbao, a 72-year-old former leader of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), was sentenced in 2009 for war crimes and crimes against humanity and sent to a jail in Rwanda.

"He travelled on Tuesday to his community in Blama, where he will serve out the remainder of his 25-year sentence under strict conditions and close monitoring," the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone said in a statement.

In line with the conditions set for his early release, Gbao made a video from his prison in Mpanga, southern Rwanda in which he apologised and asked the people of Sierra Leone to forgive him.

"I wish to express my candid remorse for the pain and trauma you people went through during the war, which I hold myself highly responsible for failing to act," he said in the video, which lasts a minute and 47 seconds, the statement said.

"I'm deeply sorry and I sincerely and honestly apologise to all Sierra Leoneans who suffered as a result of my action and negligence," he said.

"I'm humbly appealing to the victims and all Sierra Leoneans to find in place in their heart to forgive me."

The 1991-2001 war, financed largely by so-called blood diamonds, left 120,000 people dead and tens of thousands mutilated.

Gbao had the rank of overall security commander for the RUF, one of the three main factions in the conflict, but played a key ideological role, according to prosecutors.

The UN-backed special court found him guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

These included acts of terrorism, murder, rape, sexual slavery, forced marriage, cruel treatment, enslavement, pillage and attacks against UN peacekeepers.

He was acquitted on several other charges, including the use of child soldiers, the murder of UN peacekeepers, and taking peacekeepers hostage.

The court's legacy body, the Residual Special Court, determined in September that Gbao met the requirements to apply for conditional early release and had showed remorse.

But before returning home, he had to undergo an awareness course about accepting responsibility for the harm caused by his crimes and also make a public apology.

He will have to report regularly to the Sierra Leonean police, is barred from making any approach to witnesses or those who testified against him, and must not engage in political activities.

Gbao was among eight other rebel chiefs who in 2009 were given jail terms of up to 52 years.

They included two other RUF leaders, three ex-chiefs of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and two wartime leaders of the Civil Defence Forces (CDF).

They were sent to Rwanda as Sierra Leone lacked appropriate prison facilities, and imprisoned in a special wing built to house men convicted in Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

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