Rebel Leader Sankoh Charged With Murder

The jailed leader of Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front rebel movement was charged with murder almost two years after 19 people were killed in protests outside his home in the capital, Freetown.

Foday Sankoh was arrested shortly after the killings in May 2000. The demonstrators died when shots were fired from his home.

Sankoh and 49 other rebels appeared in court and were charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder. They are being held without bail. Sankoh is also expected to be charged by a separate war crimes tribunal, set up by the government and the U.N.