The U.N.-backed special court on war crimes in Sierra Leone has sentenced three senior members of the country's former Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) to jail terms ranging from 18 months to two years for contempt.
The court last month had found the trio guilty of contempt for tampering with a former prosecution witness. Two of them are already serving long prison terms for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the civil wars in that West African country since 1996.
The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) on Thursday sentenced Santigie Borbor Kanu and Ibrahim Bazzy Kamara to two years in prison. The duo were earlier found guilty on two counts of interfering with the administration of justice by offering a bribe to a witness, and attempting to induce a witness to recant (or to state that he testified falsely) testimony he gave before the SCSL.
Kamara was also convicted last month of knowingly violating a court order protecting the identity of a witness who had testified against him in the AFRC trial. Incidentally, Kamara and Kanu are currently serving sentences of 45 and 50 years, respectively, after being convicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity.