The United Nations-backed war crimes court in Sierra Leone has barred its president, Geoffrey Robertson QC, from judging cases involving rebels because of the appearance of bias against them.
The ruling at the weekend defied calls to dump the London-based human rights lawyer but it sidelined him from the court’s most important cases because of a book he wrote lambasting rebel atrocities in the west African nation’s decade-long civil war.
Robertson will remain an appeals judge with the right to hear other trials but his lesser role will be confirmed in the next few days when he steps down as president of a war crimes court meant to represent a bold step in the evolution of international justice.
He welcomed Saturday’s ruling by three fellow appeals judges to reject a defence application to permanently remove him in what would have been a very public and humiliating sacking.
”I am very glad and happy that the court has made a decision for me to remain as a permanent judge in the court,” Robertson told Reuters in the Sierra Leonean capital, Freetown. ”I also welcome the decision of the court for me not to sit in any of the trials of indictees of the RUF. But if the court finds it necessary for me to be a member of any of the trials, I am willing to do so.”
Robertson’s book, Crimes Against Humanity, The Struggle for Global Justice, was published before he was made president, but defence lawyers said that its denunciation of brutality and criminality linked to the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) had pre-judged the guilt of the three RUF defendants who were appearing at the court.
The court backed the complaint by ruling that there was an ”appearance of bias” but it was limited to the rebel side. An RUF defence lawyer, Serry Kamal, welcomed the decision.
Uncertainty over the president’s fate marred last week’s symbolic opening of the courthouse less than two years after the court — a hybrid between a UN tribunal and a Sierra Leonean court — was established to try those most responsible for a conflict which claimed almost 200 000 lives. The court is supposed to be able to avoid the delays which have plagued the international tribunals dealing with the Balkans and Rwanda.
But there was speculation that the book by Robertson could cause further disruption if defence lawyers tried to bar him from the trials of RUF allies.
Counsel for three former members of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), are believed to be considering a copycat motion to disqualify Robertson.
Robertson may also be denied the chance of trying the former Liberian president and now fugitive Charles Taylor, who is blamed for much of west Africa’s mayhem since his alleged sponsoring of massacres, mutilations and diamond trafficking was conducted through the RUF.
Sulaiman Banja Tejan-Sie, a defence lawyer, doubted whether Robertson would be allowed to try the AFRC or Taylor and would be left with just three cases involving former members of the Civilian Defence Forces (CDF), a militia which fought the rebels.
A court spokesperson, Peter Andersen, suggested that the possibility of Robertson’s duties being further whittled away was ”theoretical”.
After changing the rules last week to enable Robertson to step down as president, the judges are expected soon to appoint a successor. Many are tipping Justice Renate Winter, an Austrian judge, who sits on the appeals bench.
But Ms Winter is about to face her own accusations of bias. Defence lawyers for Sam Hinga Norman, a CDF commander, said on Sunday they would apply to disqualify her this week because she had ”pre-judged” by arguing that the recruitment of child soldiers could be criminalised retrospectively. – Guardian Unlimited Â