On 9 October 2007, the Court decided on the punishment. Kondewa was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment, Fofana got six years. These sentences were considered a success for the defence as the prosecutors had asked for 30 years' imprisonment for both. The Court imposed a lesser sentence because it saw some mitigating factors. These included the CDF's efforts to restore Sierra Leone's democratically elected government which, the Trial Chamber noted, "contributed immensely to re-establishing the rule of law in this Country where criminality, anarchy and lawlessness (...) had become the order of the day".