Author: Anthony Stephens

MONROVIA, Liberia —A whirl of speculation has clouded the work of the special presidential committee tasked with shortlisting candidates for the position of Executive Director of Office of War and Economic Crimes Courts of Liberia. Daniel Sando, Deputy Information Minister, told a weekly press conference last Thursday “that there are eight candidates who have been shortlisted.”

Monrovia – Running a war crimes court is an expensive exercise no matter where it is held. From construction of court buildings and detention facilities to salaries of judges, lawyers and administrators, to security and witness protection, costs add up quickly.

In his first address to the United Nations General Assembly since coming to office eight months ago, President Joseph Boakai has called on the body to support Liberia’s war and economic crimes courts.

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MONROVIA, Liberia—President Joseph Boakai has withdrawn his appointment of Liberian lawyer, Jonathan Massaquoi  to head the newly constituted Office of War and Economic Crimes Courts following nearly two months of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.