Finally, 3 convicted of war crimes in Sierra Leone

Cross-posted at Rosemary's Thoughts.

Source: CNN.

I have been waiting for many years to hear this news, and they still have not convicted Charles Taylor, ex-President of Liberia. Does anyone remember how long it took for them convict Milosevic? That's right. They never did. He died after 4 years - at least - of waiting for them to convict him or let him go. (And they have a problem with Gitmo? HA!)

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) -- A U.N.-backed court trying those accused of bearing greatest responsibility for the brutality of Sierra Leone's civil war issued its first verdicts Wednesday, convicting three former leaders of a junta that had terrorized the country during a brief reign.

The court found the three defendants guilty of 11 of 14 charges, including terrorism, using child soldiers, enslavement, rape and murder. [Continue reading.]

The crimes they were NOT convicted of were the crimes against the children. There were no sexually charged crimes that these scums were convicted of for having committed.

I have mixed feelings about this. I'm very glad these terrorists were FINALLY convicted. This lets the other people know that when you enslave children and force them to take up arms, you will be found guilty of war crimes. (Except in the Middle East, I suppose.) This trial has set that precedent. On the other hand, if you only rape these children, then what? That doesn't matter? That is very disheartening.

Charles Taylor's trial began in the ICC (International Criminal Court) a month ago. I guess we have at least 10 years before we get a verdict out of there. That is, if he lives that long...