PHILADELPHIA, USA – In a gripping day of testimony in a federal courtroom here, victims of Liberia’s brutal civil war recalled numerous crimes they said were committed by Laye Sekou Camara. Camara pleaded guilty to four counts of immigration fraud last week, agreeing with US government charges that he lied about his war activities on immigration forms when he applied for permanent residence in the US,
By Eric Opa Doue with New Narratives
Camara, a commander with the Lurd rebel group, faces forty years in prison when he is sentenced in May. Today the judge ordered an unusual early sentencing hearing to take advantage of the presence of 17 witnesses who had flown in from Liberia for the trial that was supposed to start this week. It was abandoned after Camara pleaded guilty. Camara will present his case at the second hearing in May.
Seven of the 17 witnesses – all men – appeared today offering detailed accounts of their encounters with Camara during the 2002-2003 conflict in Lofa, Bomi, Grand Cape Mount counties and the capital Monrovia where Lurd controlled Bushrod Island.
“Anyone Who Refused Was Killed”
One witness said he was a farmer when he and other people of village were called together and captured by Camara’s forces in Lofa County in 2002. The witness described how, during arrest in Lofa County, Camara personally severed the ear of his uncle who had refused to submit to arrest by Camara’s rebels. He said most people who resisted were executed. (Witnesses identities are being withheld because of credible fears of retaliation.)
“My uncle was tied up, and Camara personally cut off his ear,” the witness said. The witness who was just 13 at the time then agreed to go with Camara who he said he served as servant as Camara and Lurd rampaged through villages on their way to Monrovia. “Anyone who refused to comply with Camara’s orders was killed.”
The witness said he and his uncle were made to carry supplies for Camara’s men and detailed dozens of murders on their forced march.
“In every village we went to, if people resisted, they were killed,” he added.
“Bodies Were Everywhere in the Streets”
Another survivor, a former journalist who had been documenting the conflict, recalled his interactions with Camara in 2003 when the warlord was serving as the deputy chief of staff for General Cobra of the Lurd group. Although the journalist said he did not witness Camara directly inflicting harm, his testimony gave context for the devastation that surrounded him.
“He assigned soldiers to us and gave us safe passage. I remember seeing child soldiers, some as young as 10, marching alongside his troops,” the journalist said.
The journalist said Camara’s job was to take charge of the mortar brigade. The court was shown pictures of Lurd rebels firing mortars from Bushrod Island indiscriminately at the city, which was under President Charles Taylor’s control. The journalists recounted a visit to the Taylor side of the line where the mortars landed. He showed the court a photo he had taken of more than a dozen dead bodies in the Greystone compound in Mamba Point where civilians had taken shelter hoping the presence of the US embassy would deter Lurd. People took the bodies to the gates of US embassy hoping to encourage the US to act.
“We witnessed bodies everywhere in the streets,” he recalled. “Civilians were picking up the bodies, hoping to bring attention to the U.S. government.”
“There Was No Escape”
Another man said his father had been killed earlier in the war and then in the final months of the conflict, he was forced to watch as his uncle was gunned down by Camara’s forces in Monrovia.
“I saw children, no older than 11, carrying weapons and fighting. Camara was in charge of them,” the witness said. “I still carry the scars from my encounter with them.”
He described a brutal scene in which a group of civilians was executed by Camara’s men after being accused of looting. “K1 came out of the factory, and he started firing randomly,” the witness said, referring to Camara by his battlefield nickname. “My uncle was shot. There was no escape.”
Camara presented as an anxious figure throughout the day. On home detention since his arrest in 2022, he was the first person at the court this morning waiting outside for two supporters to show up.
He ranted to many people in the court that the proceedings were unfair, that God knew the truth and the truth would come out. He talked repeatedly to his lawyer throughout the testimonies and had a smile on his face for much of the day.
Defense Emphasizes the Charges Relate to Immigration Fraud, Not for War Crimes
Camara’s defense lawyer made a mild effort to undermine the first couple of testimonies by spotlighting inconsistencies with dates. He also raised the widely discredited accusation that Hassan Bility, the justice activist whose group Global Justice and Research Project has been instrumental in securing indictments against 16 people accused of crimes in Liberia’s wars in courts here and in Europe, had paid witnesses to testify.
Witness after witness forcefully rejected the suggestion that anyone told them what to say.
“I had my personal experience. I know what I went through. Noone can tell me what to say,” said one.
“I swear on my Quran that I speak the truth. No one told me what to say here today,” said another.
Outside the court Ellis Palvidas, Camara’s attorney, said today had been a one-sided affair by design and Camara’s side will come out in May.
“We are going to be responding more specifically to the details of the allegations,” Palvidas said. “The guilty plea and the evidence presented are two separate things in our mind.”
He faulted the government’s case arguing that Camara had been indicted for immigration fraud. “It’s important to remember that this case is about immigration fraud, not about allegations of atrocities that occurred during the civil war,” Palvidas added.
It will now be up to Judge Chad E. Kenney to consider both sides’ sentencing memorandums and US sentencing guidelines and determine whether Camara will face the maximum sentence of forty years and a $250,000 fine. He will almost certainly be deported to Liberia at the end of his sentence.
This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the West Africa Justice Reporting Project.
