Gus Kouwenhoven

Gus Kouwenhoven (also known as Guus van Kouwenhoven), a Dutch citizen, was arrested in the Netherlands in March 2005 and is being prosecuted for committing war crimes against Liberians and violating a U.N. arms embargo. 

Kouwenhoven was arrested following investigative work and public campaigning by Global Witness and Greenpeace on his role in logging, the diamond trade and arms trading. In 2000 Kouwenhoven was described in a United Nations report as being a part of the former Liberian president Charles Taylor's "inner circle". "Van Kouwenhoven is responsible for the logistical aspects of many of the arms deals," the UN report said. 

"Militias formed by the Dutchman's timber companies are alleged to have participated in massacres of civilians where even babies were not spared. The weapons used by the militias to commit these war crimes are alleged to have been supplied by the Dutchman," the Dutch prosecutor said in a statement at the time of his arrest. 

Kouwenhoven's activities included logging companies Evergreen Trading and Oriental Timber Corporation (OTC).

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Arms smuggling
 * Liberia Watch for Human Rights

External articles

 * The Role Of Liberia's Logging Industry on National And Regional Insecurity, Global Witness, May 2001.
 * Ivan Watson, "Liberia's vanishing rain forests: President, foreign firms ravage nation's lush jungles for profit", San Francisco Chronicle, May 21, 2001.
 * United Nations Security Council, "Letter dated 26 October 2001 from the Chairman of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1343 (2001) concerning Liberia addressed to the President of the Security Council", October 26, 2001.
 * "Liberian timber trade fuels regional insecurity", Greenpeace,  March 2002.
 * Antony Barnett, "Bloody logs of war linked to English idyll: The trade in rainforest timber used for lock gates in an English canal funds the slaughter in Sierra Leone's civil war", Observer, April 14, 2002.
 * Danzer Group, "Statement of the Danzer Group on reports from Greenpeace and SF DRS (Swiss television)", Media Release, November 25, 2004.
 * "Latest facts on the Swiss timber giant Danzer Group", Greenpeace, January 28, 2005.
 * "Dutch Arrest Suspected Arms Trader for War Crimes Committed in Liberia", Agence France Presse, March 21, 2005.
 * Global Witness, "Liberian timber industry and sanctions busting under international scrutiny", Media Release, March 22, 2005.
 * "Gus On Trial For War Crimes In Liberia", The Analyst, July 1, 2005.