Kunti Kamara

Kunti Kamara, a.k.a. Kunti Kumara, Kunti K., Colonel Kamara, CO Kamara ("Commanding Officer Kamara") or Co Kamara, is a former Liberian rebel militia commander who participated in the First Liberian Civil War as a leader in the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO).

In 2018, he was arrested in France—under the doctrine of universal jurisdiction for crimes against humanity—and charged in a French court for acts of barbarity including torture, cannibalism, forced labour and complicity in crimes against humanity during that Liberian war, and put on trial starting October 10, 2022, in a Paris court. The trial was the first of its kind in France against an alleged Liberian war criminal. The trial began on March 6, 2024.

Biography

Origin and nationality Kamara was born in December 1974 in Liberia.

First Liberian Civil War Background The First Liberian Civil War (1989–1996) was, in combination with the immediately following Second Liberian Civil War, one of the bloodiest conflicts in modern African history, with an estimated 250,000 people—mostly civilians—killed, many in massacres. Many more were maimed, raped, tortured or exploited as forced labor. Many children were forced into combat. Allegedly, the wide range of atrocities were committed by all sides in the conflict.

Kamara's involvement During the War, Kamara was (by his own admission) a local commander of the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO)

A national Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), and Liberian courts, failed to bring any of the guilty responsible to trial, Others were tried and convicted in the United States, France and Switzerland. if those crimes were illegal in the country where they happened and the accused is a resident of France. alerted French authorities about Kamara's case in 2018. The Liberian government – although it has declined to prosecute any Liberian war criminals since the end of the country's civil wars – cooperated with the investigation. He was released due to a procedural error, but put under investigation, and rearrested in 2020 while reportedly attempting to leave the country.

He was indicted in a French court, November 2020, for war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Liberian war. or the Paris Appeals Court

The court sentenced Kamara to life in prison.

Precedent According to multiple sources, Kamara's arrest was the first in France in which a ULIMO member was charged with international crimes allegedly committed during Liberia's civil wars,

Human rights lawyer Alain Werner, director of the civic group Civitas Maxima (which had been a party to the prosecution

The statement further emphasized the international significance of the event for its... Application of the doctrine of "universal jurisdiction over certain serious [violations of] international law, [permitting] prosecution of these crimes [regardless of] where they were committed [or] the nationality of... suspects or victims"; and "Rare" role in "convictions for war crimes, [or] crimes against humanity, or torture [that happened] during Liberia’s civil war era."