Rebel leaders sentenced to up to 52 years in prison for war crimes

The UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone sentenced three rebel leaders to sentences of up to 52 years in prison for committing war crimes - including rape and mutilations - on a massive scale to establish control in the 1990s.The war crimes court for Sierra Leone on Wednesday handed down sentences of up to 52 years in prison for three rebel leaders convicted of overseeing a trail of rapes and killings."The crimes were committed on a massive scale... Sierra Leoneans were raped, enslaved, hacked to death and brutalised," presiding judge Pierre Boulet said in his judgment."The impact of the crimes on the Sierra Leonean society has been enormous," he added.Revolutionary United Front interim leader Issa Sesay was sentenced to a total of 693 years, but as the judges ordered separate sentences for 16 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity to be served concurrently, he will spend a maximum of 52 years in prison. Sesay's is is the highest sentence ever handed down by the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, which cannot impose a life sentence.