Spanish police have arrested a businessman with dual U.S.-Belgian citizenship for allegedly smuggling "blood diamonds" during Sierra Leone's decade long civil war. Sixty-four-year-old Michael Desaedeleer was detained at Malaga airport in southern Spain on Friday, pursuant to a European arrest warrant.
Desaedeleer was held on charges of enslavement and "diamond pillaging" in the Kono district, Eastern Sierra Leone between 1999 and 2001, a blood diamonds victims group called Civitas Maxima said on Saturday, according to Associated Press.
"This is the very first time that a businessman has been arrested for his alleged involvement in the international crimes of both pillage of blood diamonds and enslavement of civilians," the Geneva-based victim's rights group said, according to AFP.
The American national is suspected of having participated with former Liberian President Charles Taylor and Revolutionary United Front (RUF) of Sierra Leone to enslave Sierra Leonean during West Africa country's civil war, reported Sahara Reporters. The RUF used Sierra Leone's citizens as slaves to mine for diamonds in the Kono district between 1999 and 2002.
"This is another significant step forward in our collective efforts at ensuring accountability for the crimes that occurred during the conflict in Sierra Leone," Ibrahim Tommy of Freetown Sierra Leone-based Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law said, according to Sierra Express Media.
"No one should be allowed to get away with participating in serious offenses such as enslaving people and forcing them to mine for diamonds. This case will also help to shed light on the otherwise discreet drivers of the infamous blood diamond trade in Sierra Leone," said Tommy.
