CASE REPORT: THE PROSECUTOR V. CHARLES GHANKAY TAYLOR: THE TREATMENT OF HEAD OF STATE IMMUNITY UNDER INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW BY THE SPECIAL COURT FOR SIERRA LEONE

Jamil Sahid Fofanah

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The doctrine of head-of-state immunity, a feature of the Westphalian system of sovereign equality, historically served as an absolute shield for state leaders in the judicial processes of foreign courts. It aimed to promote the smooth operation of international relations based on the principle par in parem non habet imperium, meaning “an equal has no authority over an equal.” However, the twentieth-century mass atrocities during the World Wars triggered a normative shift toward individual accountability for serious international crimes.This shift has created one of the most profound tensions in contemporary international criminal law: the conflict between sovereign