MONROVIA – When Cllr. Lavallah Supowood went to the Temple of Justice on Tuesday, his aim was to secure a criminal appearance bond for his clients, about 20 of them, who were held on multiple charges, to his surprise, he met a Writ of Arrest and an amended indictment which included Representative Yekeh Kolubah.
Report by Lennart Dodoo, [email protected]
Rep. Kolubah (Ind. Montserrado County, District 10) is an uncompromising critic of President George Weah and his government. He was a major supporter of the June 7 mass demonstration, the biggest peaceful anti-government protest in Liberia’s recent history.
His woes started two days to the June 7 protest, one that the world witnessed as a broad showcase of Liberians’ frustration with the hardship under the soccer legend-turned politician’s reign.
The lawmaker was accused of ordering his bodyguards to beat mercilessly a resident of his district who had refused to accept a leaflet and T-shirt for the June 7 protest.
Police said they picked up six suspects on June 5 upon a distress call from Emmanuel Freeman and met him lying under a market table opposite Rep. Kolubah’s house. He was lying naked, handcuffed, with wounds on his head and bruises on his body, the police said.
The police claimed the victim was tortured and flogged allegedly by Rep. Kolubah’s personal bodyguards and was rushed to the John F. Kennedy Hospital for admittance and medical treatment.
Investigative findings coupled with evidence produced during police probe, the LNP charged the suspects with the commission of the crime terrorist threat, criminal facilitation, aggravated assault and felonious restraint have been forwarded to Court for trial.
On June 5, FrontPageAfrica witnessed a bus and a pick-up full of well-armed of the Police Support Unit (PSU) and Emergency Response Unit (ERU), elite units of the Liberia National Police, who surrounded the home of the lawmaker to have him arrested based on the distress call from Freeman.
This attempt to arrest him was stalled by residents of the District.
Despite deploying over two dozen of armed officers at his home, the police argue that the intent was not to arrest the lawmaker, rather invite him to the headquarters for questioning.
Rep. Kolubah was later taken to the police headquarters by the ECOWAS Representative in Liberia.
Lawyer Didn’t See This Coming
Cllr. Lavallah Supowood, though not surprised at the government’s stance against the lawmaker, he quite didn’t expect such.
He explained to reporters at the judiciary that the police had charged and forwarded to Court 20 persons excluding Representative Yekeh Kolubah; interestingly, only five persons including the lawmaker who was not originally charged were indicted by the Grand Jurors for Montserrado County.
He, however, said he had to amend the bond he had previously secured to also cover the lawmaker.
Yekeh: I’ll Obey the Court Despite Selective Justice
In a telephone interview with FrontPageAfrica just before press time on Tuesday, Rep. Kolubah said he had not received any Writ of Arrest neither was he aware of the indictment. However, he told FPA that he will obey the court once the proper channel is followed to serve the Writ on him.
According to him, there is a procedure by which writs are served on members of the House of Representatives and once that process is followed, he would submit to the court.
Rep. Kolubah: “This government has violated all the laws of our country. To come for a lawmaker, you have to pass through the process. The same thing they said they came for me for, [Rep.] Acarous Gray did the same thing and the police has said nothing because this Police Director is a bodyguard to the President. When we say that then people say we’re insulting the President. Why would people be selective?”
In the indictment, he was accused of pointing a pistol to the head of the victim saying to him, “This man, we’ll zero him tonight.” The indictment describes this remark allegedly by the lawmaker as an “expression of the defendants’ evil design and plot to murder the private prosecutor [the victim] in cold blood for which the defendants severely beat and inflicted upon the private prosecutor serious bodily injuries.”
Like Kolubah Like Gray
Representative Moses Acarous Gray, a staunch member of the ruling political party, has been at the center of public discussions in recent time for allegedly ordering the beating of Mr. Joseph Boye Cooper, a businessman.
The scenario isn’t different from that of Rep. Kolubah.
Cooper accused Gray of ordering his bodyguards and other followers to beat him up after they both engaged in an argument pertaining to an allegation he, Gray, had made against him, Cooper.
However, according to the police, it was also established from eyewitnesses’ accounts including staff of the bar that at no time during the altercation did Rep. Gray order the flogging Cooper.
The police, however, charged one Dargbeh Jugbe, 32, with simple assault, criminal mischief and terroristic threat for allegedly injuring Mr. Boy Cooper. The police said, the suspect does not work for Rep. Gray.
According to the police, while Rep. Gray and Cooper were in a verbal exchange, suspect Jugbe, a resident of the Capitol By-pass community, confronted Mr. Cooper to tune down his voice because he was speaking to an “honorable man”.
Accordingly, the police investigation, revealed that while the suspect attempted calming Mr. Cooper, he hit the suspect on his left eye with a finger which had a ring on it, leaving the suspect with bruises.
The situation, according to the police investigation, led to the suspect’s outburst thereby hitting Mr. Cooper on his head which resulted in an injury.
However, Cooper says the police investigation is biased and compromised. He maintained that several followers, including the bodyguard of Rep. Gray chased him as he ran as he sought rescue in his sport bar.
The police have come under heavy criticism for their partiality in handling the two but similar cases. Many wondered why the police vindicated Rep. Gray despite being accused of ordering the beating the businessman and threatening to close down his business.