In March 1997, members of the Sierra Leone Army overthrew the government of President Kabbah and established the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). Brima, et al. were high-ranking members of the AFRC convicted by Trial Chamber II of war crimes and crimes against humanity for ordering, committing, planning or being responsible as superiors for the murders, beatings, mutilations, rapes, forced marriages, abductions, looting, collective punishments and recruitment of child soldiers perpetrated by the AFRC. The Appeals Chamber found that one of the accused was responsible for aiding and abetting a system of sexual slavery and forced labor.
Mens rea element: Knowledge that his acts would assist the commission of the crime or awareness of the substantial likelihood that his acts would assist the commission of the crime (¶ 242)
MENS REA: The Chamber endorsed the standard developed by the ICTY: “In both cases, the ICTY Appeals Chamber held further that liability for aiding and abetting requires proof that the accused knew that one of a number of crimes would probably be committed, that one of those crimes was in fact committed, and that the accused was aware that his conduct assisted the commission of that crime. The appeals chamber endorses this principle” (¶ 243).