Culture under Cross-Examination:

The international community created the Special Court for Sierra Leone to prosecute those who bore the greatest responsibility for crimes committed during the country's devastating civil war. Tim Kelsall examines some of the challenges posed by the fact that the Court operated in a largely unfamiliar culture, in which the way local people thought about rights, agency and truth-telling sometimes differed radically from the way international lawyers think about these things. By applying an anthro-political perspective to the trials, he unveils a variety of ethical, epistemological, jurisprudential and procedural problems, arguing that although touted as a promising hybrid, the Court failed in crucial ways to adapt to the local culture concerned. Culture matters, and international justice requires a more dialogical, multicultural approach.

Tim kelsall works as an Associate of the Africa, Politics and Power Programme and as a Visiting Fellow at the Berkeley War Crimes Studies Center based in Phnom Penh. In the past he has taught politics at the universities of Oxford and Newcastle, and has been an editor of the journal African Affairs.

List of illustrations	p. xi
Preface	p. xii
White manÆs justice? Sierra Leone and the expanding project of international law	p. 1
An expanding project	p. 3
International justice and the politics of culture	p. 8
Studying culture in international trials	p. 17
A history of the conflict and overview of this book	p. 25
The story of the CDF trial	p. 36
The prosecution case	p. 38
The defence case	p. 48
Closing arguments	p. 56
The death of the first accused	p. 59
Judgment and appeal	p. 60
Conclusions	p. 69
An unconventional army: chains of command in a patrimonial society	p. 71
Superior responsibility in international law	p. 72
Authority and society in Sierra Leone	p. 74
Superior responsibility in the CDF trial	p. 80
Judgment and conclusions	p. 95
Facts, metaphysics and mysticism: magical powers and the law	p. 105
Magic and the occult in Sierra Leone	p. 105
Magic and the law in colonial and post-colonial Africa	p. 113
Magic and the occult in the CDF trial	p. 121
Judgment and conclusions	p. 140
We cannot accept any cultural consideration: the child soldiers charge	p. 146
Pre-trial proceedings	p. 147
Conceptions of childhood in southern Sierra Leone	p. 151
Childhood and community in international law	p. 155
Child soldiers in the CDF trial	p. 159
Judgment and conclusions	p. 168
ÆHeÆs not very forthrightÆ: finding the facts in a culture of secrecy	p. 171
Secrecy and ambiguity in Sierra Leone	p. 171
Problems with evidence at the CDF trial	p. 180
Conclusions	p. 223
Cultural issues in the RUF, AFRC and Charles Taylor trials	p. 225
Superior responsibility	p. 227
Child soldiers	p. 229
Witness credibility	p. 231
Forced marriage	p. 243
Conclusions	p. 254
Conclusion: from legal imperialism to dialogics	p. 256
Practical reforms	p. 257
Normative issues	p. 258
Epistemological quandaries	p. 260
Pluralistic accountability for post-conflict societies	p. 263
References	p. 268
Index	p. 285
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Culture under Cross-Examination: International Justice and the Special Court for Sierra Leone

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