Work stoppage possible as WestJet issues lockout notice to maintenance engineers' union
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
A Paris court will deliver a verdict Wednesday in the trial of a former Liberian rebel on charges of torture, acts of barbarism and complicity in crimes against humanity during the country's civil war almost 30 years ago.
Kunti Kamara, 47, is accused of “complicity in massive and systematic torture and inhumane acts” against civilians in Liberia's Lofa county in 1993-1994 as one of the leaders of the Ulimo armed group. He was then less than 20 years old.
Kamara repeatedly rejected all the accusations against him during the nearly four-week trial.
Prosecutors requested a life sentence while defense lawyers called for acquittal, citing a lack of evidence.
“Your verdict will be historic,” prosecutor Aurelie Belliot told the court, which was made up of three judges and a jury. “You must send a clear message: France must not be the last shelter for authors of crimes against humanity.”
Kamara was arrested near Paris in 2018, following a complaint filed by Swiss-based group Civitas Maxima, specialized in helping victims of crimes against humanity.
During the investigation, he acknowledged having been a battlefield commander, leading about 80 soldiers during the civil war - a choice he said he made to defend himself against Charles Taylor's rival faction.
With no material evidence because of the chaos of the war, accusations rely on witnesses. During the investigation, French police officers went to Liberia to identify witnesses and interview local residents. About 15 witnesses came to Paris to testify.
Kamara's lawyer, Marilyne Secci, said “the testimonies were presented as irrefutable evidence because that's the only thing they had in this case.” She deplored that “there were never any doubts that were expressed with regards to these testimonies.”
Kamara is being accused of having allowed and facilitated rapes and sexual torture of two young teenagers by some Ulimo soldiers.
One of the victims vividly described the pain and suffering she endured, crying until she felt unwell and was unable to continue testifying. She wasn't able to come back to the court, and a message from her was read the next day saying she didn't want to see Kamara again.
Kamara is also being accused of having participated in the killing of two civilians and an act of cannibalism. Described by Belliot as the “active author of a collective killing,” he is accused of having eaten the heart of the victim after it had been removed by another soldier with an ax.
In addition, he is accused of having killed a sick woman, firing at her head with a rifle, and of having compelled people into forced labor under inhuman conditions. He and his group allegedly forced civilians to carry very heavy loads, including electric generators and food, for hours without food and water.
Accusations also include the torture of a man, whose arms were tied behind his back before being dragged on the floor until he was very seriously wounded.
The trial by the Paris criminal court has been made possible under a French law that recognizes universal jurisdiction for crimes against humanity and acts of torture.
Prosecutor Claire Thouault stressed that Liberia never sent to trial those who committed crimes during the country's back-to-back civil wars between 1989 and 2003 that killed an estimated 250,000 people.
She said that as soon as he arrived in Europe, Kamara “did everything to hide the reality of his actions and avoid any accusation.”
Kamara said he left Liberia after the end of the first civil war in 1997 and later went to the Netherlands. He acknowledged he lied about his past to get asylum there, including by not disclosing he used to be an Ulimo soldier.
He was later granted citizenship and lived in the country for 12 years, before coming to Belgium and then France because prosecutors alleged that he felt his war activities were getting increasingly known by Dutch authorities.
Rights groups hailed the trial as an important step to bring justice to victims.
Sabrina Delattre, lawyer for Civitas Maxima, said because “there is total impunity in Liberia” for war criminals, “it's very important for the victims that this trial took place. It's really important that they were able to come here and give their testimony before the court.”
The country's post-war truth and reconciliation commission in 2009 recommended prosecution for dozens of ex-warlords and their commanders bearing greatest responsibilities for the war. But successive governments have largely ignored the recommendations, much to the disappointment and frustration of war victims.
The trial in Paris follows a related case in Switzerland, where a court in June 2021 convicted a former Ulimo commander, Alieu Kosiah, to 20 years in prison for the rapes and killings of civilians among other crimes. Kosiah was the first Liberian convicted of war crimes dating from the first civil war. He appealed the decision.
Kosiah's statements involving Kamara partly led to the arrest of his former comrade-in-arms.
Alexander Turnbull and Oleg Cetinic contributed to the story.
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Three bodies recovered in an area of Baja California are likely to be those of the two Australians and an American who went missing last weekend during a camping and surfing trip, the state prosecutor’s office said Saturday.
Almost a week after all London Drugs stores across Western Canada abruptly closed amid a cyberattack, they began a "gradual reopening" on Saturday.
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Auston Matthews was back on the ice with his teammates Saturday.
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.