Authorities want Sankoh tried by local court

He added that continuous discussions were taking place with the international community, including the UN, Americans and British, but no trial date had yet been set, as far as he was aware. “I hope it will not be a long drawn-out process,” he said. Speaking at a seminar on Thursday on the human rights situation in Sierra Leone, Attorney General Solomon Berewa, who is also the country’s justice minister, said the government wanted a fast, judicious and effective trial. An international trial would take too long and would not be in the best interest of the people, news organisations reported him as saying. Sankoh was placed under “protective custody” by the Freetown authorities in mid-May about a week after fleeing a peaceful civilian demonstration outside his home which turned violent when his bodyguards fired on the crowd killing 19 and leaving many wounded.