Alieu Kosiah’s 20-year war-crimes sentence remains in place after Switzerland’s top court overturned a separate conviction, ruling that the crimes-against-humanity offense could not apply to conduct from 1993 to 1995.
The Federal Supreme Court dated its decision Sept. 28 and made it public Friday. It upheld Kosiah’s war-crimes conviction for conduct during Liberia’s first civil war and left the maximum term of 20 years unchanged.
The court said Swiss law recognized crimes against humanity as an offense starting in 2011. Applying it to earlier conduct would violate the principle of non-retroactivity, so the court set aside the appeals chamber’s 2023 conviction on that charge.
Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court convicted Kosiah in 2021. It found him guilty in connection with the deaths of 17 civilians and two unarmed soldiers, rape, the use of a child soldier, looting and cruel treatment. Switzerland’s universal-jurisdiction system allows its courts to prosecute suspected international crimes committed abroad.
Civitas Maxima said Kosiah’s case is the first war-crimes conviction in Swiss civilian-court history. The Swiss organization said it was disappointed that the crimes-against-humanity conviction was overturned. Its director, Alain Werner, who represents victims, said survivors had received justice through the final ruling.
