[JURIST] The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) [official website] on Wednesday convicted [press release, PDF] three former leaders of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council [MIPT backgrounder] of crimes against humanity including collective punishments, murder, rape, conscripting or enlisting child soldiers, enslavement, and pillage. The verdict, the first judgments to be handed down by the SCSL, also represents the first conviction on the recruitment and use of child soldiers in an international tribunal.

The trial [JURIST report; SCSL materials] of Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu, began in March 2005. The three are scheduled to be sentenced on July 16. AFP has more.