Author: Anthony Stephens

MONROVIA, Liberia—Two of Liberia’s leading candidates for president have committed to establishing a war and economic crimes court to try alleged leading perpetrators of Liberia’s civil wars if elected in the October elections.

MONROVIA, Liberia — A Finnish appeal court is returning to Liberia this week after a brief return to Finland, to hear testimony from witnesses for a Sierra Leonean man accused of grave human rights violations in Liberia’s civil war. Finnish prosecutors have accused Gibril Massaquoi, the former leader with the Sierra Leonean rebel group the Revolutionary United Front, of traveling to Liberia to fight on behalf of the RUF’s ally, embattled then-president Charles Taylor.

MONROVIA, Liberia—A Monrovia Court has acquitted a Liberian man accused of trafficking his female compatriot to Oman, following nearly two months of a dramatic trial.

The US trials of two alleged notorious Liberian warlords, scheduled for May and July, will be delayed until late this year at the earliest.

The two women who, a Monrovia court in January ordered Arthur Chan-Chan, a former agent of the National Security Agency to pay restitutions for trafficking them to Oman say they’ve yet to receive their payments.

KENDEJA, Monrovia – The Liberian hearings in the appeal of a former Revolutionary United Front commander’s acquittal of war crimes charges in Finland, got underway in a Monrovia hotel today. In an exclusive interview Judge Vanne Kimmo conceded the Turku Appeals Court, which has moved to Liberia to hear from 70 (mostly prosecution) witnesses, was facing some challenges with the deaths of three proposed witnesses.

Editor’s note: The story has been corrected to reflect that Paula Sallinen, Massaquoi’s defense lawyer, said the case was skewed against her client because Finnish police promised not to investigate Liberians who may have been responsible for the crimes. Sallinen did not say Liberian police covered up the role of Liberians. FPA/NN regret the error. KAMATAHUN, Lofa County – The Finnish court assessing charges of war crimes against Gibril Massaquoi, a former commander of Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front, has returned to Liberia for the third time. On Tuesday the court will begin hearings in the Finnish prosecutors’ appeal of…

Alieu Kosiah, the convicted Liberian warlord challenging his 20-year sentence for war crimes, told the Swiss Federal Court hearing his appeal that the trial had destroyed his life. In 2021 the Swiss court found Kosiah, a former commander of the United Liberation Movement of Liberia (Ulimo), guilty of 21 of 25 counts including murder, rape and recruitment of a child soldier. He’s facing fresh charges of crimes against humanity on appeal and could see his sentence increased should he lose.

MONROVIA — A second plaintiff has told the Swiss court hearing the appeal proceedings of Alieu Kosiah, the Liberian warlord challenging his 20-year sentence for war crimes, that Kosiah’s allies beat and intimidated him for testifying against Kosiah in 2021.

Editor’s note: The story has been corrected to reflect that Paula Sallinen, Massaquoi’s defense lawyer, said the case was skewed against her client because Finnish police promised not to investigate Liberians who may have been responsible for the crimes. Sallinen did not say Liberian police covered up the role of Liberians. FPA/NN regret the error. MONROVIA – Witness tampering has been the focus of the first hearings in the appeal of the acquittal of Gibril Massaquoi, the former commander with the Revolutionary United Front, accused by Finnish prosecutors of committing atrocities in Liberia during the country’s civil wars.