AP News, February 23rd, 2007
Sam Hinga Norman, a former government minister on trial for allegedly overseeing a militia accused of torturing and mutilating civilians during Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war, died Thursday at a Senegalese hospital, a court statement said.
Norman, 67, Sierra Leone's former internal affairs minister, had been awaiting a verdict on eight charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly performed by fighters he oversaw during the 1991-2002 war.
The court statement said Norman, who had been flown to Senegal's capital, Dakar, on Jan. 17 for medical procedures, died of apparent heart failure.
Norman maintained his innocence throughout his trial, which began in June 2004 at the U.N.-backed Sierra Leone Special Court in the capital, Freetown. During hearings, 75 prosecution witnesses testified to support charges of murder, systematic looting and burning of villages, as well as the recruitment of child soldiers.
"Initial indications are that Mr. Norman suffered heart failure during postoperative care," the statement said. An independent investigation has been ordered to determine the exact cause of death.
Sierra Leone's Special Court was established to try those bearing the "greatest responsibility" for atrocities committed during years of vicious fighting in which various groups burned villages, chopped off people's hands with machetes and went on campaigns of rape.
It is estimated that about half a million people were victims of killings, systematic mutilation and other atrocities during the fighting.
Former Liberian President Charles Taylor is awaiting trial by the same court, though his hearing is set to take place in The Hague out of concern that his presence in Sierra Leone could destabilize the fragile region.
Some have criticized the Special Court _ which has yet to produce a ruling on any of the 12 originally indicted in 2003 _ for not progressing through trials quickly enough. Two others have died since the indictments _ one of natural causes and one in a killing that many believe was a move to silence him.
A judgment on Norman's case had been widely expected within the next few months.
