The trial of a suspected warlord Gibril Ealoghima Massaquoi accused of atrocities during Liberia’s civil war has started in Finland.
Prosecutors say Massaquoi, from Sierra Leone, was a senior member of a rebel group that fought in Liberia from 1999 to 2003. He is accused of killing civilians and soldiers who had just been disarmed, rape and recruiting child soldiers.
He denies the charges and says he was taking part in peace talks at the time of the alleged crimes.
Some 250,000 people were killed in the Liberian conflict, which was intertwined with the war in neighbouring Sierra Leone.
The 51-year-old was a commander and a spokesperson for the notorious Sierra Leone rebel group, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which also fought in Liberia.
He gave evidence to the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone set up to investigate war crimes committed in that conflict. He was relocated to Finland in 2008 as part of a witness protection programme, which provided immunity for crimes committed in Sierra Leone, but not Liberia.
Prosecutors have demanded a life sentence, which, in Finland tends to mean 14 years imprisonment.
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