Former Child Soldier Asks UN to Hear Asylum Claim During Kosiah War Crimes Trial FPAfrica: Liberia
The former child soldier was brought from Liberia to testify for Kosiah during his war crimes trial, baffling observers because his very presence confirmed that Kosiah had used child soldiers - one of the charges of which the former commander of the Ulimo rebel group was accused. Kosiah and his defense lawyer appeared willing to bet that the witness's testimony about Kosiah's good treatment of him would outweigh the evidence of the crime in the minds the judges.
Today's appearance, in Kosiah's appeal of that conviction, began dramatically with Kosiah for nodding to a military salute from his former soldier and earning a rebuke from the judges. Even before he began testifying, the former child soldier asked to be freed from Swiss custody and to speak with a United Nations human rights body saying he had been unjustly detained by Switzerland. Through tears, he refused to testify and was removed from the court.
"Alieu Kosiah said that he should be taken to Ugly Boy," said the plaintiff who was overcome with emotion."Everytime I think about this moment, it comes back to my memory. It's playing on me. We heard David Ndeminim being beaten up." There, he said, Ugly Boy took out an ax."It was the first time in my life that I saw someone cut the heart of a person and drop it on a large plate." Most of the Ulimo soldiers ate from the heart, he said."Kosiah ate a piece of his heart. And he did nothing to stop Ugly Boy."
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