Maada Bio and collaborators could be arrested and charged with human rights abuses anywhere they escape, under the legal principle of Universal Jurisdiction

MAADA BIO AND COLLABORATORS COULD BE ARRESTED AND CHARGED WITH HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES ANYWHERE THEY ESCAPE, UNDER THE LEGAL PRINCIPLE OF UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION

By KABS KANU

The 2021 U,S. State Department Report on Human Rights Abuses has seriously indicted Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio of “significant ” human rights abuses, which “included credible reports of unlawful or arbitrary killings by the government , cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment by government or on behalf of government …arbitrary arrest or detention …and the existence of the worst forms of child labor. “

The over 16,000 word-report highlights names of some victims and instances of heinous and arbitrary political killings by President Bio’s ruling SLPP Government. The report also refers to the Pademba Road Prisons massacre where 30 prisoners and one correction officer were killed.

When President Bio leaves power, charges can be brought against him and collaborators like his wife, Mrs. Fatima Jabbie Bio and his garrulous and ruthless Deputy Internal Affairs Minister , Lahai Lawrence Lemma, among others.

It does not matter if they flee from Sierra Leone, Bio and his fellow human rights abusers can be charged anywhere under the legal principle of UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION. Universal jurisdiction is a legal principle that allows states or international organizations to claim criminal jurisdiction over an accused person regardless of where the alleged crime was committed, and regardless of the accused’s nationality, country of residence, or any other relation to the prosecuting entity.

The principle has been applied many times in Belgium, England, the U.S, France and other Western countries to arrest and try individuals who are accused of egregious human rights abuses in their countries. Other countries have the right to arrest them, try them and jail them under International Human Rights Law.

Serial human rights abuser MAADA BIO should have been warned by his acolytes that in today’s globalized world, shedding human blood and taking human lives with impunity is punishable wherever one lives. It does not matter where it was committed.

There has been no response from the SLPP Government since COCORIOKO this morning published the U.S State Department Report. But the silence of the government could portend worrying signs.