New book on Special Court for Sierra Leone

“[T]he Special Court for Sierra Leone was bit like [a] Mercedes: in many respects a fine vehicle, but not well adapted to the local terrain [of Freetown].”

Thus begins Culture Under Cross-Examination: International Justice and the Special Court for Sierra Leone, Tim Kelsall’s new book.  Kelsall, an anthropologist, argues that the Special Court did not properly understand and take into consideration Sierra Leonean culture during the trials of three former Civil Defense Force (CDF) leaders.

Three years ago an Emory anthropologist visited Liberia.  He brought me lots of reading material, including a paper by Kelsall on how “Tok af lef af”—a Krio proverb that encourages keeping back information from others so that the information will not be used against you later—made it extremely difficult for the Special Court to get reliable evidence from Sierra Leonean witnesses.  While reading the paper I remember vividly having multiple “Aha!” moments, and craving more.

The paper became chapter 6 of this book.  Kelsall explains how Poro initiations were essentially training in the importance of keeping secrets.  Witness testimony frequently reflected this training.  Combined with different perceptions of time, cross-examinations were laborious:

Q: Now did that meeting continue for long?

A: The time that I witnessed in that meeting, the meeting lasted—it lasted for—when I was there—I can’t tell you how long it lasted, but it lasted but it lasted on to the time I left the place and I stayed there for quite a considerable time.  I can’t tell you how long it took after I left.

And this example was not exceptional.   Frequently witnesses responded to questions in the subjunctive and conditional tenses (e.g. “Even if he did it, I didn’t see it.”).  Kelsall makes an apt parallel with a scene from Shrek 3 in the footnote on page 204—highly recommended.

Kelsall notes that the prosecution and judges often referred to witnesses as “unsophisticaled” or having “very simple backgrounds” and “tapp[ed] into now largely discredited attitudes about the mental deficiencies of non-literate peoples.”

At points Kelsall’s criticism of the judges is scathing.  In one scene, Kelsall shows how the presiding judge led a witness, then put words in the witness’s mouth—words which later appeared verbatim in the trial chamber’s final judgment.  (Pages 220-223.)

Though chapter 6 is my favorite, the rest of the book is equally incisive.  Kelsall shows over and over again how the judges bought into testimony that, had they trained an “anthropological lens” on, would have seen unreliable.  Witnesses often had significant incentives to lie; many were heavily compensated for their testimony, some were relocated to Europe permanently for testifying, and some may have wanted to settle scores with the accused.  Testimony of several murders was completely uncorroborated, and frequently there was discrepancy with original statements and statements made in court.  Yet the judges rarely took these factors into consideration.  Kelsall calls their judgments at times “barely reasoned.”  There are many examples in the book (including a fascinating discussion on how judges dealt with magical powers), but here’s one I found most interesting.

The prosecution argued that the CDF had a system of effective command and control, based on a British consultant’s 14-day field assessment.  Yet Sierra Leone’s TRC report concluded there were “virtually non-existent hierarchical controls.”  Meanwhile, the defense called as their witness an anthropologist who has spent long chunks of time in Sierra Leone.  He testified that CDF groups “operat[ed] largely in isolation” and that terms like “Platoon Commander” referenced a patron-client relationship, not a military command relationship.  Yet ultimately the court agreed with the prosecution.

Kelsall concludes with sound suggestions for future international trials.  Investigators should build more trust with potential witnesses.  Local legal traditions should better inform the “courtroom ecology.”

Reading this book, I felt like a third grader learning how to be thrifty with highlighting and note taking.  On some pages I underlined, starred, and exclamation point-ed more than half the text.  But this simply reflects the book’s originality and insightfulness.  I can’t recommend it enough.