Swiss top court upholds Liberian warlord’s 20-year sentence
Switzerland’s highest court has upheld the 20-year prison sentence of former Liberian rebel commander Alieu Kosiah, making final the first war crimes conviction ever handed down by a Swiss civilian court.
The Federal Supreme Court’s ruling, dated 28 September and made public on 30 October, rejected Kosiah’s appeal against his conviction for crimes committed in Lofa County, Liberia, between 1993 and 1995. Reuters reported the ruling on 30 October, and Civitas Maxima, the Geneva-based organisation representing victims in the case, confirmed the conviction, the sentence and Kosiah’s expulsion from Switzerland all stand.
Kosiah, a commander of the ULIMO rebel group, was found guilty of killing civilians and ordering killings, rape, using a child soldier, pillage and cruel treatment of civilians, and desecrating the body of a dead civilian in an act described as cannibalism. The appeals chamber had earlier said the crimes alone would have justified 150 years in prison, but 20 years was the maximum allowed under Swiss law.
Kosiah was first convicted in June 2021, after settling in Switzerland in the late 1990s and being arrested in November 2014 following a complaint by Liberian victims. An appeals chamber confirmed the conviction and sentence in June 2023, adding a conviction for crimes against humanity — the first in Switzerland.
The Federal Supreme Court has now overturned that second conviction. It ruled that the crimes against humanity law, introduced into Swiss law in 2011, cannot be applied to acts committed between 1993 and 1995. Civitas Maxima said the acquittal changes nothing about the sentence or the expulsion.
Why it matters
The ruling closes Switzerland’s first war crimes trial and confirms the first conviction anywhere of a Liberian for war crimes committed during the country’s civil wars. Civitas Maxima says Liberia’s two civil wars, from 1989 to 2003, killed around 250,000 people and armed groups recruited more than 21,000 children. Yet Liberia has never held a war crimes trial of its own.
Alain Werner, director of Civitas Maxima, said the survivors now had “final justice” after more than 30 years — but called the acquittal on crimes against humanity “deeply disappointing”.
What happens next
Kosiah has been detained since his arrest in November 2014 and will be expelled from Switzerland once he has served his sentence. The court sent the case back to the appeals chamber to decide the costs and legal aid fees.
This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.
Sources
- https://www.civitas-maxima.org/resource/alieu-kosiahs-war-crimes-conviction-is-final-as-swiss-federal-supreme-court-upholds-20-year-sentence/ (Civitas Maxima, 30 October 2026)
- https://941theduke.com/2026/10/30/top-swiss-court-upholds-landmark-liberia-war-crimes-ruling/ (Reuters, 30 October 2026)
- https://234radio.com/swiss-supreme-court-upholds-liberian-ex-rebel-commanders-20-year-sentence/ (234Radio, 30 October 2026)
