Looking back to his childhood there, Dr. Bankole Thompson remembers a Sierra Leone "described quite fittingly as the Athens of West Africa in terms of education" and "the model of British parliamentary democracy in Africa."

The Sierra Leone of today, however, is reeling from a period of ethnic strife and "an over-politicization of its system of justice" in the '80s and '90s. Beginning in 1991, fighting between the Sierra Leone government and the Revolutionary United Front resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of more than 2 million people, more than one-third of the country's population. Many fled to neighboring countries.

As a recent appointee to the United Nations Special Court for Sierra Leone, Thompson, the dean of graduate studies at Eastern Kentucky University and a recognized scholar in comparative law, criminal justice and international law, hopes to help his homeland recapture its glory.

Thompson, a former judge of the High Court of Sierra Leone, was one of eight judges appointed to a three-year term on the special regional court, which will meet regularly in Sierra Leone to consider as many as 20 cases annually. The judges, he said, have been "empowered to try to punish all persons who carry the greatest responsibility for serious violations of international humanitarian law, human rights law and criminal law of Sierra Leone committed during a period of hostilities and rebel insurgency. Persons who commit such serious infractions against the rights of others should never go unpunished."

Thompson believes the key to his selection was two books he authored, "The Constitutional History and Law of Sierra Leone (1961-95)" and, especially, "The Criminal Law of Sierra Leone."

"I believe that my pioneering work on the 'Criminal Law' book in 1999 helped to credentialize me for such a prestigious judicial appointment," said Thompson, who credited his wife, Dr. Adiatu
Thompson, for providing the "inspiration" for completing the second volume.

"Some credit is also due EKU," he said, "for creating the right kind of academic culture and intellectual environment that supported the research for the book. I hope this appointment opens the way for equally deserving colleagues at Eastern."

Another factor in his selection, Thompson speculates, is his "strong commitment to judicial independence."

The unrest of the previous decade saddened Thompson.

"It came to a point where judges were expected to show sensitivity to political ideologies and ethnic loyalties in the dispensation of justice," he said. "In nascent democracies, one sure
way to undermine stability is to politicize the judicial system and make the rule of law
subject to the whims and caprices of the political authorities.

"I feel committed to help because we had inherited from Britain a very fine tradition of democracy, the rule of law and the principle of liberty. To see these values challenged and destroyed was tragic. I do feel a sense of mission."

Thompson said the Court was established as a result of an agreement between the Sierra Leone government and the United Nations.

In addition to one other Sierra Leonean, other permanent members of the Court are from Canada, Cameroon, Nigeria, Gambia, Austria and the United Kingdom. The prosecutor is from the United States.

Sierra Leone, slightly smaller than South Carolina in geographical size, borders the North Atlantic Ocean between Guinea and Liberia.

Thompson joined the EKU faculty in 1995 as a professor of criminal justice. He was named dean of graduate studies in 2001.

Prior to coming to the U.S., Thompson served as principal state attorney in Sierra Leone and as legal officer for the Mano River Union, a West African economic group composed of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. He also was a founding member of the country's Law Reform Commission and was the first African to hold the David Brennan Chair of Comparative Constitutional Law at the University of Akron Law School.

He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Fourah Bay College (Sierra Leone), then affiliated with the University of Durham, and M.A., LL.B. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Cambridge in Great Britain.