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.
By Anthony Stephens and Eric Opa Doue with New Narratives
Judge Vanne acknowledged the deaths of the three potential prosecution witnesses may concern witnesses given the fear that many have expressed about testifying in the five international trials of perpetrators accused of crimes in Liberia’s civil wars that have taken place so far. During convicted war criminal Alieu Kosiah’s appeal hearing in Switzerland this month two witnesses claimed to have been threatened by his allies for testifying against him.
The Finnish court’s unusual decision to come to Liberia to see the sites of the alleged crimes and for months of hearings in 2021 was groundbreaking. No accused perpetrator had ever been tried on Liberian soil for crimes committed during the civil wars. The Finnish legal system is unusual in that it requires judges to visit the scenes of crimes where possible. No other court has come to Liberia for hearings or site visits.
There was concern that witnesses would be less willing to testify in Liberia than they had been in trials in the US and Europe. That proved not to be the case. 80 witnesses came forward to testify. The judge said he had no information about the deaths of the witnesses.
“I have no knowledge of the reasons for their deaths or whether they had been threatened after their testimonies or anything like that,” Judge Vanne said. “We presume that they died of natural causes. There is no knowledge pointing to another direction.”
Vanne said the three-judge panel had already watched the testimonies the deceased witnesses gave to the district court.
In the first session of the trial the court heard from a man who claimed Massaquoi ordered the killings of his wife and other civilians at the Waterside bridge, where they had gone to search for food in a burst biscuit store. The witness said Massaquoi had commanded his bodyguards to put the civilians in a long queue under the old Vai Town Bridge [now King Zolu Duma Bridge] and ordered their killings if they left the queue.
He alleged his wife was fleeing on-sight shooting by Massaquoi’s bodyguards when she was killed.
The witness said the soldiers had killed four people in the crowd of civilians before killing his wife. He said when the alleged killings were going on, a “friendly force” of Charles Taylor, the Liberian President at the time arrived on the scene and asked, “why are you killing the Liberians?”
The witness alleged before that, Massaquoi had killed two men himself.
“When he killed the two men, he said go and tell God that I am Angel Gibriel.”
He identified one of the men as Tamba. On cross examination, defense lawyers asked him about a prior statement to Finnish police in which he said he did not know the names of any of the men.
Defense lawyers read police investigative notes in which he said he did not accompany his wife to Waterside, but only went to look for her after he had heard shooting in the area.
The witness had also told the police that the alleged incident took place in 2003 but told the court that it happened in 2001 and 2002.
Asked about the inconsistencies in his testimony, the witness said “my brain is not a computer to remember everything as they occurred.”
Inconsistency in witnesses’ testimonies formed a major part in Massaquoi’s acquittal.
The deaths of the three prosecution witnesses for the appeal court hearings are not the only setbacks facing the court. The Sierra Leone government has also not responded to requests to move the court there to hear from witnesses after the Liberian hearings end. The defendant, Gibril Massaquoi, has called defense witnesses in Sierra Leone to testify on his behalf, as they did in his 15-month trial. The lower court acquitted Massaquoi of all charges brought against him for war crimes and crimes against humanity by Finnish prosecutors finding they did not prove the case “beyond a reasonable doubt”.
“We haven’t received an answer for our request for the Mutual Legal Assistance from the Sierra Leonean government,” said Vanne. “We are still expecting and hoping for the best. If we don’t get their approval, there will be some thinking to do.”
“The problem related to that is that at least some of the Sierra Leonean witnesses are not willing to come to Liberia. And there are no ways we can force them to do that. So, it would be a problem if we were not to get permission to continue the hearings in Sierra Leone.”
Massaquoi’s lawyers have accused Joseph “Zizar Marzah”, a key commander of then Liberian President Charles Taylor of one of the mass killings of which Massaquoi is accused, according to
a translated transcript of the trial taken by Civitas Maxima, the Swiss-based justice activists. They claim Liberian police covered that up choosing to blame Sierra Leonean Massaquoi instead. Marzah has called the acquittal of Massaquoi a mistake. Marzah refused to testify in the first trial of Massaquoi but in an interview with New Narratives last year.
promised to testify if called again when called upon.
Tom Laitinen, Chief prosecutor in the trial said like the defense, they too might have a “new witness.” But judge Vanne confirmed Marzah is not on the list of witnesses at the moment.
Vanne became presiding judge of the Turku Appeals Court at the start of 2015 after 25 years experience. Despite the profound challenges the court faces in trying a case with such unfamiliar language and cultural aspects, he said he was sure of a fair outcome.
“I am confident we can guarantee fair and good trial,” said Vanne. “The court speaks through its judgment, and we are planning to have the judgment given in this case in the end of September this year if all goes well.”
Perhaps as a reflection of the lack of trouble in the first visit to Liberia, this court has permitted journalists to disclose the location of the hearings as the Kendeja Resort. That information was suppressed in the first trial in the district court.
This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of its West African Justice Reporting Project.
