Finland charges Sierra Leonean man with war crimes

Prosecutors in Finland say a man from Sierra Leone has been charged with crimes against humanity, over his role in Liberia’s civil war two decades ago.

Gibril Ealoghima Massaquoi is accused of killing civilians and soldiers who had just been disarmed when he was a senior member of a rebel group – the Revolutionary United Front – that fought in Liberia.

Prosecutors say the former soldier – who has been living in Finland for a decade – also committed rape and recruited child soldiers (between 1999 and 2003).

He denies the charges.