SIERRA LEONE. GOVERNMENT REJECTS THE ABOLITION OF THE DEATH PENALTY

August 4, 2005: the government of Sierra Leone has published on late June proposals for implementing the recommendations of the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). In one statement that pointedly contradicts the TRC recommendations, the government's 17-page policy document entitled “White Paper on the Truth and Reconciliation Project” rejects the abolition of the death penalty.
“Government wishes to state that Sierra Leone has just emerged from a decade-long armed conflict with attendant wanton killings of individuals and the commission of various atrocities, and as such does not accept the Commission’s call for immediate abolition of death penalty for persons guilty of heinous crimes,” it said.
It added that the government “will continue to monitor and review its present stance on this matter.” (Sources: Irin, 13/07/2005)