[3] Following its dissolution in 2013, it was replaced by the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone in order to complete its mandate and manage a variety of ongoing and ad-hoc functions, including witness protection and support, supervision of prison sentences and claims for compensation.

On 26 April 2012, former Liberian President Charles Taylor became the first African head of state to be convicted for his part in war crimes.

[4] On 12 June 2000, Sierra Leone's President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah wrote a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan asking the international community to try those responsible for crimes during the conflict.

[5] On 10 August 2000, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1315 requesting the Secretary-General to start negotiations with the Sierra Leonean government to create a Special Court.

[citation needed][6] On 10 March 2004, the new courthouse building of the Special Court for Sierra Leone was officially opened, before an audience of national and international dignitaries.

[7] As of April 2012, over 40 states had contributed funds for the court's work, with the most notable African contributor being Nigeria.

[8] The SCSL had the jurisdiction to try any persons who committed crimes against humanity against civilians that included: murder; extermination; enslavement; deportation; imprisonment; torture; rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution or any other form of sexual violence; persecution on the basis of politics, race, ethnicity or religion; and other "inhumane acts."

[1] All sentences should be carried out within Sierra Leone, unless there was no capacity to deal with the accused, at which point any states pursuant to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda or the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia who have acceded a willingness to host the accused for the tenure of their sentence can hold the prisoner.

For a detailed discuss of the sentencing practice and punishments imposed by the Special Court for Sierra Leone read Shahram Dana, The Sentencing Legacy of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, 42 Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law 615 (2014).

[1] The Special Court consisted of three institutions: the Registry, the Office of the Prosecutor, and the Chambers (for trials and appeals).

[1] Registrars: The current prosecutor, Brenda Hollis, previously the principal trial attorney in the Charles Taylor case, was appointed by the UNSG and took up her office in February 2010.

[1] The Deputy Prosecutor is Joseph Kamara, a Sierra Leonean, nominated by that government and appointed by the Secretary General.

Three of the indictees were leaders of the Civil Defence Forces (CDF), i.e. Allieu Kondewa, Moinina Fofana, and former Interior Minister Samuel Hinga Norman.

[68] Five leaders of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) were indicted: Foday Sankoh, Sam Bockarie, Issa Hassan Sesay, Morris Kallon and Augustine Gbao.

[70] The only indicted person who is not detained, and whose whereabouts remain uncertain, is the former dictator and AFRC chairman Johnny Paul Koroma, who seized power in a military coup on 25 May 1997.

Because Taylor still enjoyed considerable support in Liberia, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf requested the trial to be moved to The Hague.

[74] His trial in Freetown was deemed undesirable for security reasons with UNAMSIL having considerably reduced its presence.

[79] The Trial Chamber II scheduled the announcement of its verdict on 26 April 2012[80] The verdict was read starting at 11:00[81] by the presiding judge Richard Lussick, who said that "the trial chamber unanimously finds you guilty of aiding and abetting [all of these] crimes:" acts of terrorism; murder; violence to life, health or physical well being of persons; rape; sexual slavery; outrages upon personal dignity; violence to life, health and physical or mental well being of persons; other inhumane acts, a crime against humanity; conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 years into the armed forces; enslavement; and pillage in accordance with article 6.1 of the SCSL's statute.

"[83] The prosecutor Brenda J. Hollis reacted to the verdict in saying:[84] Today is for the people of Sierra Leone who suffered horribly because of Charles Taylor.

This judgment brings some measure of justice to the many thousands of victims who paid a terrible price for Mr. Taylor's crimes.

The Trial Chamber's findings made clear the central role Charles Taylor played in the horrific crimes against the people of Sierra Leone.

In 2012, Charles Taylor's lead defense counsel, Courtenay Griffiths, was accused of disclosing the identities of protected witnesses.

In October 2012, a seventh defendant, Prince Taylor, was charged with nine counts of contempt of court for witness tampering and interference with the administration of justice.

[87] On 20 June 2007, the three suspects in the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council trial, Brima, Kanu, and Kamara, were each convicted of eleven of 14 counts.

[90] On 2 August 2007, the two surviving CDF defendants, Kondewa and Fofana, were convicted of murder, cruel treatment, pillage and collective punishments.

These included the CDF's efforts to restore Sierra Leone's democratically elected government which, the Trial Chamber noted, "contributed immensely to re-establishing the rule of law in this Country where criminality, anarchy and lawlessness (...) had become the order of the day".

Convictions were entered on charges including murder, enlistment of child soldiers, amputation, sexual slavery and forced marriage.