Former Liberian rebel seeks to overturn Swiss war crimes ruling

A Liberian man convicted of 22 counts of war crimes including rape, murder and an act of cannibalism is seeking to overturn the judgment at an appeal trial opening in Switzerland on Wednesday where he also faces new allegations of crimes against humanity.
Alieu Kosiah, a former rebel commander who fought against former President Charles Taylor’s army in the 1990s, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2021 in Switzerland’s first ever war crimes trial. The indictment has since been expanded to include crimes against humanity – the first time these charges
are brought in a Swiss trial.
Kosiah was arrested in 2014 in Switzerland, where he had been living as a permanent resident. A 2011 Swiss law allows prosecution for serious crimes committed anywhere, under the principle of universal jurisdiction.