Witness breaks down in UN war crime trial

A SOBBING witness opened testimony in United Nations-backed war crimes trials in Sierra Leone, recounting the beheading of his brother and his own torture during a militia raid that targeted helpless civilians.

Three leaders of the government-allied militia blamed in the raid are the first defendants before the tribunal in Freetown, created to try those bearing “greatest responsibility” for atrocities in a vicious 1991-2002 war in the diamond-rich West African nation.