James C. “Jim” Johnson, the former Chief of Prosecutions at the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), has been named Prosecutor of the Residual Special Court. He succeeds Brenda J. Hollis, who was appointed as the International Co-Prosecutor of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.
Mr. Johnson joined the Office of the Prosecutor at the SCSL in 2003 as Senior Trial Attorney, and was named Chief of Prosecutions in 2006. After he left the SCSL in 2012 he served for three years as President and CEO of the Robert H. Jackson Center in Jamestown, New York.
Since 2013 he has been Adjunct Professor of Law and Director of the Henry T. King War Crimes Research Office, Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio. He is also Director of the International Humanitarian Law Roundtable and Managing Director of Justice Consultancy International, LLC.
Prior to joining the SCSL, he served for twenty years as Judge Advocate in the United States Army.
Ms. Hollis departs after having served as Prosecutor of the RSCSL since 2014 and of the SCSL since 2010. While Prosecutor, she led the prosecution of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, culminating in the September 2013 appeal judgement confirming his guilt on all eleven counts for war crimes and crimes against humanity, and a sentence of imprisonment of 50 years.
