Final gavel

By T.T. | FREETOWN

ELEVEN years after the end of Sierra Leone's civil war, the special tribunal set up to pursue the worst of the perpetrators has closed. It will be replaced by a residual court tasked with overseeing the protection of witnesses as well as any applications for the early release of convicts.

The Special Court for Sierra Leone, which launched its first indictments in 2003, will be best remembered most of all for the trial and successful conviction of Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president and warlord. Sentenced to 50 years in prison for aiding and abetting what the presiding judge termed "some of the most heinous and brutal crimes recorded in human history", he lost his appeal in late September and is starting his sentence in the UK. He was the first head of state to be convicted of war crimes by an international tribunal since the Nuremberg trials of former Nazi leaders.

At the closing ceremony in the capital, Freetown, Sierra Leone's president, Ernest Bai Koroma, described the court as a "trail-blazer in international criminal law". It achieved the first ever convictions by any such tribunal for the use of child soldiers, attacks against UN peacekeepers and forced marriage as a crime against humanity--legal precedents that have shaped the work of subsequent tribunals.

With Mr Koroma brandishing a giant ceremonial key to signal the handover of the court, whose premises will now house Sierra Leone's supreme court, Alpha Kanu, the information minster, announced "the end of impunity in Sierra Leone".

This may be a little far-fetched. The court tried only a handful of "those who bear the greatest responsibility" for the atrocities committed, while all others enjoyed an amnesty. It was also hoped that the court would help to rebuild the country's shattered judicial system, but it remains wracked by delays and shortfalls.

Both the court and the concurrent Truth and Reconciliation Commission have faced questions from anthropologists over their cultural relevance in a country where many pushed for a “forgive and forget” approach. Reactions to Mr Taylor's conviction last year were muted in the capital. Some have argued that the money spent by the court may have been better used to rebuild Sierra Leone, which remains one of the world's least developed countries.