Alex Tamba Brima (born 23 November 1971) is a former Sierra Leonean military commander

Commander

Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...

. He was one of a group of seventeen soldiers in the Sierra Leone Armed Forces

Military of Sierra Leone

The Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces is the armed forces of Sierra Leone, responsible for the territorial security of Sierra Leone's border and defending the national interests of Sierra Leone, within the framework of its international obligations...

 who called themselves Armed Forces Revolutionary Council

Armed Forces Revolutionary Council

The Armed Forces Revolutionary Council was a group of Sierra Leone soldiers that allied itself with the rebel Revolutionary United Front in the late 1990s. While the AFRC briefly controlled the country in 1998, it was driven from the capital by a coalition of West African troops...

 (AFRC) that succefully stage a coup that ousted president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah

Ahmad Tejan Kabbah

Alhaji Ahmad Tejan Kabbah served as President of Sierra Leone from 1996 to 1997 and again from 1998 to 2007.He worked for the United Nations Development Programme and returned to Sierra Leone in 1992...

 in May 1997. On 19 July 2007 he was convicted and sentenced to 50 years in prison for committing war crime

War crime

War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...

s and crimes against humanity during the Sierra Leone Civil War

Sierra Leone Civil War

The Sierra Leone Civil War began on 23 March 1991 when the Revolutionary United Front , with support from the special forces of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia , intervened in Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow the Joseph Momoh government...

.

Biography

Brima was born in the village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 of Yaryah, Kono District

Kono District

Kono District is a district in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone. Its capital and largest city is Koidu Town. The other major towns in the district include Yengema, Tombodu, Motema, Jaiama-Nimokoro and Sewafe. Kono District is the largest diamond producer in Sierra Leone.The population of Kono...

, Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...

 to parents from the Kono

Kono people

The Kono people is a major ethnic group in Sierra Leone at about 7.6% of the country's total population. Their homeland is the diamond-rich Kono District in south-eastern Sierra Leone. They form by far the single largest ethnic group in the district at about 52% of the population...

 ethnic group. In April 1985, he joined the Sierra Leone Army, where he was promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeant. In 1998, Brima was invited by Johnny Paul Koroma

Johnny Paul Koroma

Johnny Paul Koroma was the Head of State of Sierra Leone from May 1997 to February 1998.-Youth and Education :Koroma grew up in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. However, he was born in Tombodu, Kono District, in eastern Sierra Leone to Limba parents. He is from the same ethnic group as...

 to join the AFRC Supreme Council. In this capacity, Brima was a commander of the AFRC and Revolutionary United Front

Revolutionary United Front

The Revolutionary United Front was a rebel army that fought a failed eleven-year war in Sierra Leone, starting in 1991 and ending in 2002. It later developed into a political party, which existed until 2007...

 forces that attacked civilians in the north, east, and centre of Sierra Leone in 1998 and in Freetown

Freetown

Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone, a country in West Africa. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean located in the Western Area of the country, and had a city proper population of 772,873 at the 2004 census. The city is the economic, financial, and cultural center of...

 in January 1999.

Brima was indicted on 7 March 2003 was arrested on 10 March 2003, and his trial before the Special Court for Sierra Leone

Special Court for Sierra Leone

The Special Court for Sierra Leone is an independent judicial body set up to "try those who bear greatest responsibility" for the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sierra Leone after 30 November 1996 during the Sierra Leone Civil War...

 began on 7 March 2005. He was tried with Brima Bazzy Kamara

Brima Bazzy Kamara

Brima Bazzy Kamara was a commander of the soldiers of the Sierra Leonean Armed Forces Revolutionary Council and in 2007 was convicted of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Sierra Leone Civil War....

 and Santigie Borbor Kanu

Santigie Borbor Kanu

Santigie Borbor Kanu was a Sierra Leonean military commander in the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council . He was one of a group of seventeen soldiers in the military of Sierra Leone that succefully staged a coup that ousted president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah in May 1997...

. Brima was found guilt of crimes against humanity and war crime

War crime

War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...

s on 20 June 2007, including counts of murder

Murder

Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...

, rape

Rape

Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

, forced labour, and the use of child soldiers. He and his codefendants' convictions were the first convictions for the Special Court for Sierra Leone and were also the first time anyone had been convicted of the international crime

International criminal law

International criminal law is a body of international law designed to prohibit certain categories of conduct commonly viewed as serious atrocities and to make perpetrators of such conduct criminally accountable for their perpetration. Principally, it deals with genocide, war crimes, crimes against...

 of using child soldiers. On 19 July 2007, Brima was sentenced to 50 years' imprisonment which will probably be served in Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

 or Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

.