During the afternoon of October 7, 2008, three witnesses testified. The afternoon began with a woman being cross-examined by the defense. Two factors made it very difficult to follow the woman’s testimony. First, the woman was not testifying in English and a translator was present. Second, the line of questioning from the defense was not linear, in part, because of difficulties that arose from the language barrier.
The second witness was a man born in Sierra Leone who was called to testify about his brother’s experiences and death. The witness testified that at the outbreak of the civil war he fled to Kenema and then eventually to Monrovia. During his travels he was separated from his brother. Eventually, the siblings were reunited in Monrovia under very unfortunate circumstances. Upon the witness’ arrival in Monrovia he saw a friend that lead him to his brother. His brother was being held captive in a detention center. The witness said his brother looked unwell, physically and mentally. While visiting his brother, the witness also saw two other men he had known previously, he described them as looking in very poor health too.
After seeing his brother in the cell, the witness went to the Sierra Leone Ambassador and then to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR). The witness pled his case to the Deputy Protection Officer and the Protection Officer at UNHCR. With the help of these people he was able to get his brother released from the cell and transferred to the Greystone Clinic, a medical facility.
The witness lived with his brother at Greystone because his brother could no longer take care of himself. The brother’s arms no longer worked, and the witness stayed with his brother to take care of him and feed him. The witness also described his brother as having scars on his elbows, burns on his body that appeared fresh and markings as if he had been tied up. The other men that the witness had scene at the detention center had also been transferred to Greystone and were described to have similar scars, burns and markings on their bodies.
The third witness was the doctor that attended to the second witness’ brother as well as the other two friends, while they were at Greystone. The doctor testified that all three men were in poor hygenic condition, undernourished, walking slowly and hesitantly. In addition, he said that all three men were standing with their arms bent at the elbows (at almost a 90 degree angle) with their hands flexed. The doctor said this was an antalgic position, which is a position adopted to avoid exacerbating pain. The doctor’s testimony was interrupted at this point as it was nearing the end of the day, so he was scheduled to finish testifying the following morning.
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