Moinina Fofana (born 1950 in Bullom,

Bonthe District Bonthe District is a district that comprises several islands and mainland of the Atlantic Ocean in the Southern Province, Sierra Leone, Southern Province of Sierra Leone. Bonthe is one of the sixteen districts of Sierra Leone. Its capital is the t ...

British Sierra Leone The Colony and Protectorate of Sierra Leone (informally British Sierra Leone) was the British colonial administration in Sierra Leone from 1808 to 1961, part of the British Empire from the abolitionism era until the decolonisation era. The Crow ...

) is a

Sierra Leonean The demographics of Sierra Leone are made up of an indigenous population from 18 ethnic groups. The Temne in the north and the Mende in the south are the largest. About 60,000 are Krio, the descendants of freed slaves who returned to Sierra L ...

former military commander who was the leading general in the

Kamajors The Kamajors were a group of traditional hunters from the Mende ethnic group in the south and east of Sierra Leone (mostly from the Bo district). The word "Kamajor" derived from Mende "kama soh", meaning traditional hunter with mystical powers, ...

militia and director of the

Civil Defence Forces The Civil Defense Forces (CDF) was a paramilitary organization that fought in the Sierra Leone Civil War (1991–2002). It supported the elected government of Ahmed Tejan Kabbah against the rebel groups Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and Arme ...

(CDF) during the Sierra Leone Civil War. He was considered to be one of the leaders of the CDF, like

Samuel Hinga Norman Samuel Hinga Norman (January 1, 1940 – February 22, 2007) was a Sierra Leonean politician from the Mende tribe. He was the founder and leader of the Civil Defence Forces, commonly known as the Kamajors. The Kamajors supported the government of ...

and

Allieu Kondewa Allieu Kondewa is a former traditional doctor in the Kamajors tribe and military commander of the Civil Defence Forces in Sierra Leone. He was born in the Bo District and lived served until his arrest and subsequent trial by the Special Court for Si ...

Trial and conviction

Fofana was indicted by the

Special Court for Sierra Leone The Special Court for Sierra Leone, or the "Special Court" (SCSL), also called the Sierra Leone Tribunal, was a judicial body set up by the government of Sierra Leone and the United Nations to "prosecute persons who bear the greatest responsibi ...

on charges of

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...

and

war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

s. His trial began on 3 June 2004 and was tried alongside his fellow ranking members of the CDF, Kondewa and Norman. According to his indictment, Fofana was the second in command with the CDF to Norman and principally in charge of logistic of the war as the Director of War. On 2 August 2007 Kondewa and Fofana were convicted of the

s of

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

, violence to life and mental suffering,

pillage Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

, and

collective punishment Collective punishment is a punishment or sanction imposed on a group or whole community for acts allegedly perpetrated by a member or some members of that group or area, which could be an ethnic or political group, or just the family, friends a ...

s. Fofana was acquitted of related charges of

and the war crime of

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

. On 9 October 2007, the Court sentenced Fofana to six years imprisonment."Jail for S Leone self-defence duo"
''BBC News'' 9 October 2007. Fofana has appealed his conviction to the Court's Appeals Chamber.

Notes

External links

Fofana, Moinina Fofana, Moinina People convicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone Fofana, Moinina Sierra Leonean people convicted of war crimes Sierra Leonean prisoners and detainees People of the Sierra Leone Civil War People from Bonthe District {{SierraLeone-politician-stub