Artículos Destacados

Agosto 1, 2007

Interview with Mohamed Suma, Program Director of the Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Programme (SLCMP)

By Veerle Opgenhaffen

Since its inception in 2004, the Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Programme (SLCMP) has quickly evolved into a powerful voice for civil society in the pursuit of justice following the country's brutal civil war. The SLCMP's monitoring work emerged in response to the dilapidated state of the judiciary, destroyed by years of civil war, corruption, and political manipulation. Originally formed to monitor the trials at the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), the SLCMP is an independent consortium of lawyers, human rights leaders, and civil society activists that now also monitors the domestic courts system, as well as the government Anti-Corruption Commission. The SLCMP is continuing its work with the SCSL, which is currently in the preliminary phases of trying former Liberian President Charles Taylor at a specialized chamber in The Hague.

At the helm of this ambitious undertaking is Program Director Mohamed "Suma" Suma, who on a recent visit to ICTJ's New York headquarters, sat down with some members of the Communications Team to discuss his latest work on the Charles Taylor trial and the Liberian Truth Commission. The following are excerpts from our interview:

VO: Suma, you've spent years monitoring the process of the SCSL and its impact and efforts on the ground. What measures are you taking to adjust to the fact that Charles Taylor's trial is being conducted at such a distance from the Court and the people of Sierra Leone?

MS: Well, we've always aimed to provide a third-party perspective, to be an independent monitor of the Court and at the same time to be a vehicle for communicating important issues to the general public. The Taylor case presents serious logistical challenges, but we're trying to be strategic and proactive about those so that we can continue to provide the same service to people in a situation where it is even more crucial to have an external presence monitoring and feeding information back to Sierra Leoneans.

VO: How are you planning to do that, given the enormous financial and geographic obstacles you face?

MS: We have been very fortunate to recruit two volunteers who are being externally funded through August 2007 to monitor the trial for us in The Hague. They have basically been our everyday correspondents and liaisons, reporting back to us so that we can conduct outreach about the trial in our radio programs, website, community town hall meetings, through articles in the press, and through contact with civil society organizations. We are particularly interested in publicly discussing and analyzing the more contentious and tricky legal issues in this case, so that the public can engage with it on a deeper level and really grasp what is going on. Unfortunately these volunteers are only available through August 2007, meaning we have to recruit a fresh set of volunteer(s), while we seek funding to recruit permanent staff capable of monitoring the trial on our behalf in The Hague.

VO: Have you been working with any partners in Liberia on the Taylor trial? Have you got a sense of how well-informed the Liberian public is about the case?

MS: Liberia and Sierra Leone are intertwined in this case and because of that we have made a special effort to reach out to Liberians as well. I recently visited Liberia, where I met with more than 15 civil society organizations, as well as a wide array of media and government representatives. The intent was to develop a proactive parallel outreach strategy with our partners there so that the entire region could benefit from monitoring and analysis, transcending national boundaries.

VO: Are there any particular issues that came up during your trip that were unique to the Liberian context in your opinion?

MS: On the whole it seems like Liberians have less trust in the SCSL and so they are particularly open to a third party like ourselves who can provide them independent information. You have to understand that there is still support for Taylor in some pockets there and people are extremely wary of those camps.

VO: So what will be your strategy for Liberia?

MS: We will collaborate with the people we met with by passing information on to them and by doing a weekly radio broadcast about the trial to give perspective, news, and analysis. At the same time, we will also have Liberians speak on Sierra Leonean Radio so there is a cross-over in sharing viewpoints. We're also talking about doing some large community gatherings to provide a forum for people to talk and ask questions, especially to help understand motions and court processes when things really get going.

VO: Two questions, Suma. Is there a lot of public hunger for this information? And do people seem at all anxious or afraid about the trial?

MS: There is an incredible amount of interest in the trial, accompanied by a great deal of frustration, especially with the lack of the so-called ‘video-link' the Court was supposed to provide, yet hasn't. There is some anxiety but that is mostly contained...what we hear most is that people wish they could see the trial happening, to watch or hear proceedings themselves. Because of that we are doing everything in our power to make it more didactic and accessible.

VO: Are you saying that the trial sessions are not going to be broadcast after all, despite a commitment to do so?

MS: The Special Court was supposed to broadcast the trial live from Trial Chamber II in The Hague, as sanctioned by UN Security Council Resolution 1688 of 2006. However, after a frequently sputtered start on June 4th, 2007-and the lack of broadcasting in subsequent hearings-it leaves us in great doubt as to whether they will follow through on their promise, even though we have raised grave concerns to that effect.

On the other hand, if the SCSL decides to broadcast only recorded excerpts of the proceeding, people will also be concerned and suspicious about censorship. Finally, inasmuch as the people have these legitimate worries about access to the proceedings, there is also a need for genuine concern for victim and witness protection, which is tricky in this situation.

VO: Speaking of which, are there plans to take victims to The Hague or will their participation be facilitated via satellite television?

MS: Many discussions have gone on about the best way to do this. In the end, the defense was completely opposed to trying to engage with witnesses via video link or satellite TV and insisted on having them there live, so now we have a situation where literally hundreds of witnesses will be flown to The Hague to give their testimonies. This will be a complicated endeavor....if you can imagine, these individuals have to leave their country and culture and basically be tucked away in a hotel in The Hague, in virtual isolation, as they wait to be called to give their testimonies. This can be a very scary and painful process for people.

VO: Do you think people are worried about being re-victimized or attacked for giving their testimonies?

MS: Yes, of course, there will be the fear of physical retribution as well as the real psychological pain of recounting often brutal and devastating atrocities. To its credit, though, the SCSL has developed a fairly robust relocation process for people who are considered to be in serious danger. I have to add that having the trial in The Hague might actually help diminish some of the real security dangers, especially in Liberia where there are still influential, violent groups supportive of Taylor roaming about that might try to spread their terror to Sierra Leone if the trial was [sic] being held there.

VO: Aside from the fact that the ICC is literally housing the SCSL in a special court chamber for this purpose, are there other things that the international community is doing to help ensure that this trial is secure and accessible to people?

MS: The international community has done a lot to improve the security situation in both Liberia and Sierra Leone and there is one initiative being run right now where the Special Court will be taking some civil society groups to The Hague to witness the trial and help them feel involved, but this is sort of a small-scale ‘justice-tourism' initiative [rather] than a broad outreach program...

What the NGO community lacks-and this includes our program-is the necessary funding to enable us to develop procedural propriety and good access to the proceedings themselves. Though it should be open to all and much easier to access and monitor, its distance alone virtually guarantees it will be a closed-off process and because of that, much harder to guarantee that basic fair trial standards are being followed in the courtroom.

VO: Are you optimistic about the capacity for this trial to be fair and have a positive impact?

MS: I am hopeful about it, yes. A fair process, even if carried out at a distance, will have a tremendous impact on the region because it can mark a new era and build a certain level of trust in justice amongst the general population. I strongly believe that holding a fair trial is intricately linked to creating a future built on justice and the rule of law. It's funny, when Taylor was at large, I was very vocal about getting him arrested and then as soon as he was apprehended I became very vocal about his right to a fair trial.

You have to understand that the SCSL is an institution that has great potential to give us back a sense of justice, which was not only robbed from us during the war, but also contributed to the war itself...the absence of justice fueled the violence tremendously.

VO: Do you think this will have an additional truth-telling impact for the region and if so, how do you think this case will or should interact with the Liberian truth commission process?

MS: I think the most important part of this whole trial process-besides the obvious need to pursue justice-is precisely the basic stories that will come out of this. So many revelations will come out that we hope will help us to hear and document and understand how the war really worked. As for the Liberian TRC, I think we should be very careful about how [Taylor] is integrated into its work, if at all. For example, I think it would be very dangerous to call him to give his testimony there, as that could have significant repercussions in political and security terms. Again, the most important thing is to protect the victims and hear their stories.