By Teddy Foday-Musa at the Hague and Gibril Koroma in Canada.
The months of June and July are very crucial months for Sierra Leone as those are the months the Special Court for Sierra Leone has set aside to pass judgment on the three accused members of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and the three accused members of the Civil Defence Forces (CDF), one of whom, Chief Samuel Hinga Norman, is already deceased.
According to a recent Special Court fact sheet, judgment on the AFRC members will be handed down on Wednesday June 20 while a specific judgment date has not yet been set aside in the case of the CDF members but the Special Court says "it will be issued in June or July".
A judgment date for the RUF members is not yet on the cards because their trial is still in the defence stage but proceedings are expected to be completed by the end of 2007 and judgment handed down during the first half of 2008.
The AFRC accused are Ibrahim Bazzy Kamara, Santigie Kanu and Alex Tamba Brima while the CDF accused are Moinina Fofanah, Allieu Kondewa and Samuel Hinga Norman. The RUF accused are Issa Sesay, Augustine Gbao and Morris Kallon.
Meanwhile former Liberian president Charles Taylor will face the glare of the cameras of local and international media on Monday when he goes on trial at the Hague but there are specualtions that he might soon be freed if the Special Court fails to get the required funding to continue its work.
Photo: CDF members on their first appearance in court. Left to right: Moinina Fofanah, Allieu Kondewa and the late Chief Hinga Norman.
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