Liberia: Don Bosco Demands Release Of 63 Prisoners

MONROVIA – For more than two years, 63 young men have been locked up in the Central Prison in Monrovia without ever being served with an indictment. This deprives them of the right to defend themselves in Court. Brother Lothar Wagner, a Catholic Religious from Don Bosco, is now demanding their immediate release. “It is difficult to see these young men being robbed of their future,” said the social worker, who works daily as a chaplain in the prison since 2016. Many are disillusioned, depressed and simply dejected. The families of the prisoners are also at the end. They have lost trust in the rule of law.

Criminal Court “D”: Of the 282 in custody, only three have received an indictment

Brother Lothar points out a scandalous situation: “The vast majority of the inmates in prison are deprived of the right of legal defence”. He gives as an example the situation at Criminal Court ‘D’ (1st Judicial Circuit Court of Montserrado County). Court ‘D’ has jurisdiction over the crimes of armed robbery. As of today, there are 282 inmates in Monrovia Central Prison, whose case is handled by Court “D”. Only three of these 282 inmates have received an indictment from the public prosecutor’s office! Of the 279 without a charge, 63 have been in prison for more than two years. Sadly, eight of these inmates are serving five or more years in prison already. Without an indictment! Consequently, they don’t get a chance to defend themselves because, in the absence of an indictment, they don’t know exactly, what they’re being accused of. None of these inmates have legal assistance, because they are either not financially able to provide so or they do not have access to a mandatory public defender.

The grievances have been pointed out for more than a year

Brother Lothar, his collaborators and a public defender have been trying to point out this problem for months. “Lastly, on January 6, 2023, two of my colleagues and I handed over the corresponding list of names to the Judge of Court ‘D’. In May 2023, a lawyer had filed a motion for dismissal for at least the 63 inmates, who had not been given an opportunity to defend themselves with at least two years in prison”, explains Brother Lothar, making it clear that the court knows about the situation. In doing so, the lawyer referred to Section 18.1 of the criminal procedure law entitled “Dismissal for failure to proceed with prosecution”. To date, no hearing has been scheduled by Court ‘D’. “This is more than very frustrating”, says Brother Lothar.