Author: Anthony Stephens

In a special series, Front Page Africa and New Narratives will look in depth at the issues that the designers of Liberia’s courts will have to consider. Where will the court be held? How much will it cost and who will pay? What security issues need to be considered? Who and how many people will be tried? In Part 1 we look at the models court planners will draw on. The team designing Liberia’s courts have a range of former courts to learn from. The most obvious one is Sierra Leone’s Special Court – held in our neighboring country to…

By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives MONROVIA, Liberia— Former rebel leader Thomas Nimely Yaya used the 21st Anniversary of Peace Celebrations on Friday to voice his opposition to the country’s nascent war and economics crimes courts claiming they threaten the country’s political stability. Mr. Nimely, 68, headed the Movement for Peace and Democracy in Liberia (Model), one of two warring factions that helped force Charles Taylor, then-Liberian president, out of power in 2003. Model was accused of committing more than 11,000 or 7 percent of crimes -including rape, murder, torture, forced labor, looting and recruitment of child soldiers – reported…

The Liberian government sought the endorsement of its war and economic crimes courts from the United Nations in a meeting on Tuesday. The meeting comes three months after President Joseph Boakai quietly sent a letter to the U.N. Secretary General, asking for technical and financial support for the courts.

MONROVIA, Liberia—President Joseph Boakai has withdrawn his appointment of Liberian lawyer, Jonathan Massaquoi  to head the newly constituted Office of War and Economic Crimes Courts following nearly two months of public condemnation from almost all leading victims and human rights advocates and the umbrella body for lawyers in the country, the Bar Association.

MONROVIA, Liberia— Leading advocates of war time justice for Liberia have welcomed criticism by Dr. Robtel Neajai Pailey, in this year’s Independence Day oration, of the process to appoint Cllr. Jonathan Massaquoi as executive director of the War and Economic Crimes Courts Office.

  The Finnish government has awarded €390,000 ($US426,00) in compensation to Gibril Massaquoi, the former Sierra Leonean rebel leader acquitted in January of war crimes and crimes against humanity prosecutors said he committed during Liberia’s second civil war between 1999-2003. The payment covers Mr. Massaquoi’s loss of liberty and income during the protracted judicial process, which spanned four years.

Monrovia – The US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice has condemned Mr. Alan White, an American former investigator for the Sierra Leone Special Court, and a group of activists for making unsubstantiated allegations against leading human rights activists in a Congressional committee hearing in Washington D.C. last month. Mr. White had alleged to US members of Congress that the human rights advocates had bribed witnesses who appeared in war crimes trials in Europe and the US in recent years.

MONROVIA, Liberia—The leader of Liberia’s powerful National Bar Association, the professional organization of the nation’s lawyers, has joined the growing list of civil society and victims’ groups that have condemned the process by which President Joseph Boakai appointed Cllr. Jonathan Massaquoi as executive director of the Office of War and Economic Crimes Courts.

MONROVIA, Liberia—Finance Minister Boima Kamara has said health issues were the cause of his absence from duty over recent months leading President Boakai to request his resignation as reported by Front Page Africa on Monday. Front Page Africa/New Narratives have learned that in a closed-door UN donor meeting on July 3 the minister confided his illness was, in fact, related to his mental health.

Monrovia – President Joseph Boakai has taken the first step in inviting international support for the establishment of Liberia’s War and Economic Crimes Courts by sending a letter to António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary General, requesting financial and technical assistance for the courts. Requesting UN support is a crucial part of making the courts a reality.