Sierra Leone: UN-backed court questions circumstances of rebel leader's death

Senior officials from the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone said today that new information about the killing of former rebel fighter Sam Bockarie, including the alleged involvement of Liberian President Charles Taylor, raises questions about the circumstances of his death earlier this month.

Alan White, the tribunal's chief of investigations, said he had credible information that the family of Mr. Bockarie had been killed in Liberia. That news, he said, casts serious doubts about the claims regarding the circumstances of Mr. Bockarie's death on 6 May, and he argued that President Taylor continued to obstruct the tribunal's efforts. Mr. Bockarie, a former commander of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) during the war, was indicted for atrocities on 7 March.

For the past 10 days, the authorities in Liberia have refused to transfer Mr. Bockarie's body to the Court for an independent forensic examination in order to provide positive identification. The Office of the Prosecutor has repeatedly called on President Taylor to cooperate with the Court's work, to no avail.

In an interview published in the Washington Post, the Court's Chief Prosecutor, David Crane, charged that Mr. Bockarie was executed by President Taylor's chief of security, Gen. Benjamin Yeaten.

Mr. Crane said another fugitive from the court, Johnny Paul Koroma, was hiding in northern Liberia, near the border with Sierra Leone. "We call on Taylor to rejoin the family of nations and turn over Koroma and any other indicted war criminals he is sheltering," the Prosecutor said. "We call on Taylor to cease and desist his illegal actions."