UK police arrest man in Sierra Leone war crimes investigation

Man, 42, arrested in Leeds and remains under investigation despite release

British police arrested a man on Tuesday as part of an investigation into allegations of war crimes during the civil war in Sierra Leone.

London Metropolitan Police said the man, 42, was arrested at an address in Leeds, in the north of England, under the International Criminal Court Act.

Officers searched the property and took the man into custody. He was released but remains under investigation.

The war between 1991 and 2002, financed largely by "blood diamonds", killed 120,000 people and left tens of thousands mutilated.

Charles Taylor, once Liberia’s most feared rebel fighter, who served as president from 1997 to 2003, is serving a 50-year sentence in a British jail for his role in fuelling the conflict in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

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Updated: May 18, 2021, 9:10 PM