By Joaquin Sendolo with New Narratives

MONROVIA, Liberia – The Finnish court hearing the war crimes case against former Revolutionary United Front commander Gibril Massaquoi heard from two witnesses on Wednesday who said they saw Massaquoi murder their relatives during the Liberian civil war.

The witness, now 47, detailed the crimes he said he witnessed near Waterside Bridge on the way from Bushrod Island into Monrovia.

“We were inside a shop near Waterside looking for food when I heard shooting sound, and the person called his name saying that ‘I am Gabriel Massaquoi’,” the witness told the four judge panel using one of the names witnesses say Massaquoi used during the war. “I saw him while in the shop and he had a pistol in his hand, and after that he order us to single file and we did. While in the line, he took two of my brothers under the bridge that was his base and killed them there.”

“I saw Massaquoi firing at the two brothers of mine under the bridge,” the man said. “Another incident of shooting took place near the bridge and we all escaped after my brothers had been killed.”

This was the second day of hearings in an undisclosed location in Liberia since the trial moved here from a district court in Tampere, Finland where the trial is being prosecuted. Massaquoi, who was granted residency in Finland in return for testimony that helped convict former Liberian president Charles Taylor and others in the Special Court of Sierra Leone, is facing war crimes charges until the principle of “international jurisdiction” which holds that crimes committed against all of humanity can be prosecuted in any jurisdiction. Massaquoi has not been moved to Liberia and is watching the proceedings through videolink.

The second witness, speaking confidently, told the court that Massaquoi had soldiers with him, some with arms and some without.  

“I saw him well and he said he was the commander” the witness told the court. “I got to know his name because he was always calling his name as ‘Angel Gabriel Massaquoi’, and that’s how I heard his name and can still remember it today.” The witness identified a rebel by the name of Gabriel Varney as controlling the line of people crossing the bridge while Massaquoi was killing people under the bridge.

This witness, like a woman who testified on the first day, could not remember the exact year the events took place. “The one I can remember and talking about is the 2000 war where I experienced this thing,” he said.

The court has directed journalists to conceal the identity of all witnesses in the case to protect them from intimidation and retaliation. The location of the court and a separate location where journalists are watching the trial through a video link is also being concealed.

Dates have become a key issue in this case. Witness two said he could only remember 2000 but defense lawyers point out that 2000 was before the fighting took place over Waterside Bridge.

It is also unclear which factions were fighting at the time of the alleged events. Wednesday’s witness said he believed ULIMO was fighting the forces of then president Charles Taylor, with whom Massaquoi’s RUF had a close relationship. But by 2000 ULIMO and its offshoots, ULIMO-J and K, no longer existed. The faction fighting the government then was the Liberia United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). 

The witness could also not remember the peacekeeping group that came to maintain peace during the last phase of the war. When the war escalated and government forces and rebels were shelling each other’s territories, the West African grouping ECOWAS sent a ceasefire-monitoring group known as ECOMIL before the later arrival of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). The witness, like others who were used to the first West African peacekeeping group for a long time, said he remembered ECOMOG coming to intervene in the crisis.

The defense lawyer drilled the witness on inconsistencies between his answers to investigators in the case and his testimony in court. “It has taken long time and I am not educated to remember all of those days and dates,” the witness said. “The only time I know is the year 2000. The mistakes I make here are because the time has gone too far for me to remember all of what you are asking for.”

“Since he (Massaquoi) was the commander and was boasting and killing people, I was able to know him among the many soldiers surrounding him at the time.  He was not fat or huge, tall or short.  He was of a medium size with light skin.”

Third Witness

The third witness, another male, told the court that Massaquoi killed his wife and mother at the Waterside Bridge where they had gone to find food. As the fighting wore on shops emptied out and people in the city were starving. The witness said he and his family were living in West Point and had heard that people were finding food at a store across the bridge in Waterside.

After waiting for a long time for the women to return the witness said he decided to go in search of them. That’s when he said he came upon Massaquoi at the bridge. The witness said Massaquoi had directed the women and others on the bridge to line up single file and he was taking people out and killing them for what Massaquoi decided were transgressions. The witness saw the bodies of two men lying under the bridge. And then his mother and wife were pulled out of line.

“Massaquoi killed my wife and my mom, and he gashed one woman with a bayonet when she resisted going with him under the bridge, though she finally went after receiving wounds from the bayonet,” the third witness said.

“He introduced himself as Angel Gabriel Massaquoi, and I saw him taking up a pistol to shoot, and it was when he shot the two boys I told you about.”  There was an incident that soldiers from central Monrovia were coming towards us shooting, and that’s how we all ran from the place,” the witness said.

Like other witnesses, the third witness did not know which group was fighting government forces in 2000.  He, like the second witness, said ULIMO was the group, but after being asked why ULIMO that was disbanded since 1996, he said government forces told them that they were fighting ULIMO, and as civilians they had no argument to make but to conclude that it was the case.

More witnesses are still standing to testify in the case with some expected to come from Lofa County where Massaquoi is accused of committing some of the crimes.

This story is a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the West Africa Justice Reporting Project.

GENEVA – The Swiss-based organization, Civitas Maxima which has been working in collaboration with the Global Justice and Research Project (GJRP) to facilitate the documentation of international crimes, and pursues the redress of such crimes on behalf of victims who do not have access to justice, has taken Madam Agnes Reeves-Taylor to task over her damning indictment of the group’s effort in pursuit of alleged perpetrators of the Liberian civil war.

In a statement Tuesday, Civitas said it takes serious exceptions to Reeves-Taylor’s assertions made at a news conference Monday, July 27, 2020, during which she spoke in great detail about her incarceration and the torture case against her in the United Kingdom.

Ms. Reeves Taylor, who recently left the UK stated that the purpose of the press conference was to “set the record straight” regarding the alleged “misinformation and lies” spread about her.
 
These alleged “misinformation and lies”, Civitas noted, include the evidence from direct victims and witnesses of her alleged crimes that was considered by a criminal court in the UK as “prima facie” (legally sufficient) evidence to support the charges against her.

Civitas, however, averred that because Ms. Reeves Taylor ultimately did not face trial in the UK, the evidence against her was not tested in a court of law.  “We at Civitas Maxima and the Global Justice and Research Project (GJRP) are appalled and very concerned about the apparent public campaign Ms Reeves Taylor is waging against the individuals and organizations who assisted the UK authorities in their investigation. Threats and intimidation of witnesses, victims, and Human Rights Defenders is a hallmark of dictatorships, not of democracies like Liberia. We unequivocally condemn Ms Taylor’s statements repeatedly naming and targeting the individuals and organizations working tirelessly for justice in Liberia.”
 
Civitas said Hassan Bility and the staff of the GJRP are themselves survivors of the Civil Wars and slammed Ms. Reeves-Taylor’s attempt to discredit the work which has been done to bring several high-profile figures of the civil war to justice. “They are ordinary Liberians who have devoted their lives to serving the victims and survivors of the wars by recording their experiences and assisting in their pursuit of justice. Mr Bility and the GJRP undertake their work at great personal risk – a risk which has been significantly heightened following the return of multiple accused perpetrators to Liberia, and which was further heightened following Ms Reeves Taylor’s comments.”

Added the statement: “Mr Bility is also an internationally acclaimed Human Rights Defender, and his team – which includes internationally trained investigators – conduct their investigations according to international standards without fear or favor. Ms Reeves Taylor declared that their work “has to stop”. But the GJRP will not stop. The GJRP is, and always has been, on the side of the forgotten Liberian victims – the same victims that Ms Reeves Taylor ruthlessly labels “malicious”, “vicious” and “liars”. Her words are a frightening example of the vital importance of the GJRP’s work: supporting the voices of victims that have had to suffer in silence as impunity has reined in Liberia. Such attempts to discredit and silence victims demonstrates that it is now even more important than ever for Mr Bility and the GJRP to continue their crucial work of documenting war-time crimes and assisting victims in their quest for justice.”

“We at Civitas Maxima and the Global Justice and Research Project (GJRP) are appalled and very concerned about the apparent public campaign Ms. Reeves Taylor is waging against the individuals and organizations who assisted the UK authorities in their investigation. Threats and intimidation of witnesses, victims, and Human Rights Defenders is a hallmark of dictatorships, not of democracies like Liberia. We unequivocally condemn Ms Taylor’s statements repeatedly naming and targeting the individuals and organizations working tirelessly for justice in Liberia.

Civitas Maxima, Global Justice & Research Project (GJRP)

Civitas said it is very troubling to see Ms Reeves Taylor use the public platform of a press conference to explicitly defend the former rebel group, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), against accusations of rape. “While Ms Reeves Taylor was absent from Liberia for over 20 years, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report stands as a testament – documenting the undeniable fact that the NPFL and other groups involved in the Civil Wars committed acts of sexual violence on a massive scale. The TRC should not be instrumentalized, but implemented.”

During her news conference, Ms. Reeves-Taylor said Monday, she is open to the judicial system to answer charges relating to the war. Said Reeves-Taylor: “I submit myself to the Liberian judicial system to examine these lies and determine their plausibility” she stated during the press conference. We call on the current Government of Liberia to accept Ms Reeves Taylor’s invitation, and finally comply with its international treaty obligations and with the TRC recommendations – making sure that those who allegedly committed crimes during the Civil Wars can be held accountable nationally. If she is innocent, that can only be proven in an impartial court of law and not at a press conference.”
 
Civitas said it is now more important than ever that the Liberian Government listens to calls from Liberians and the international community to establish a war crimes court. “Until then, Liberia will be the land of impunity, where war criminals can find safe haven. And this is the greatest disservice to all the people that have died and suffered, to those that were brave enough to testify, and to those who relentlessly advocate for justice and accountability.” 
 
Throughout the press conference, the statement said, Ms. Reeves-Taylor made numerous attempts to discredit the individuals, organizations, and the UK authorities involved in the investigation against her, by spreading misinformation. One such statement was that she was arrested beforeany investigation proceeded against her. “Like many of the unfounded claims made by Ms Reeves Taylor, this is demonstrably untrue. Civitas Maxima and the GJRP provided information about her alleged crimes to the UK authorities in 2013, which led to a substantial investigation by the Metropolitan Police during the years preceding her arrest in 2017.”

Regarding Ms Reeves Taylor’s attack on the integrity of Civitas and GJRP, as non-governmental and non-profit organizations whom  she claimed are documenting war crimes and crimes against humanity as a “goldmine”, Civitas said:  “NGOs like ours are obligated by law to keep strict financial records. Our financials are public, and we have always been transparent. Since our creation in 2012, we have never accepted any government funding – which many other NGOs do –  in order to remain entirely independent of potential influence, and we have a very strict code of ethics regarding donations. Our 2019 financial records can be found here.”

To date, Civitas has been involved in bringing to justice, Martina Johnson, Liberian citizen and former artillery commander of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) of Charles Taylor, who was arrested in September 2014 in Gent, Belgium, and charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.  She was later released while she is awaiting trial. Johnson’s arrest was the first time ever a Liberian was criminally charged for international crimes allegedly committed during the 1st civil war in Liberia (1989-1996).

Alieu Kosiah,  a former commander of the United Liberation Movement for Democracy in Liberia (ULIMO) was arrested and charged for war crimes in Switzerland in November 2014 and his arrest was made public in January 2015. His arrest marked the first time ever a member of the armed group ULIMO which was fighting against Charles Taylor and the NPFL during the Liberian civil war was arrested and charged.

From 2015 through 2017, the criminal investigation proceeded and a Swiss Judge decided several times to prolong M. Kosiah’s detention. In March 2019 the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) announced that Kosiah’s case will go to trial in 2020. However, the trial has been put off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Civitas Maxima and the Center for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL) in Freetown also worked in partnership and documented for several years the accounts of people used by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) as slaves in the diamonds pits of Kono in the Eastern part of Sierra Leone as part of the trade of so-called « blood diamonds.

This partnership led to a criminal complaint against M. Desaedeleer, US and Belgian citizen, was filed in 2011 in Belgium on behalf of several Sierra Leonean plaintiffs. This complaint prompted an official and non-public federal investigation by Belgian authorities against M. Desaedeleer.

Desaedeleer’s arrest led to the arrest and indictment for participation in the trade of blood diamonds, qualified as a war crime – pillage – and crime against humanity – forced labor.

In September 2015, after several years of investigation, M. Desaedeleer was arrested in Malaga, Spain, following the issuance of a European arrest warrant against him. He was then transferred to Belgium where he was charged for war crimes and crimes against humanity, being accused of having participated with Charles Taylor and the rebels of the RUF in Sierra Leone in the trade of so-called «blood diamonds».

Desaedeleer passed away in Belgian custody on 28 September 2016, a few months before his trial was scheduled to commence.

Civitas was also involved in the arrest in April 2016 of Mohammed Jabbateh, aka Jungle Jabbah. Jabbah was arrested in Pennsylvania, U.S.A. On 2 October 2017. The U.S. Government’s immigration fraud case against the Liberian citizen, Pennsylvania resident, and alleged war criminal began in Philadelphia. Jabbateh was charged with two counts of fraud in immigration documents and two counts of perjury for having lied to authorities about his wartime activities. He was a ULIMO commander, then later ULIMO-K post-faction split, during the First Liberian Civil War and responsible for commanding atrocious wartime crimes including murder, conscription of child soldiers, and cannibalism. 

A jury convicted Jabbateh on 18 October 2017. On 19 April 2018, Jabbateh was sentenced to 30 years in prison, the maximum possible sentence for his charges. This sentence is also one of the longest sentences for immigration fraud in U.S. history.  The trial was the first-ever trial against a ULIMO commander and the first time that victims testified in a criminal trial about crimes committed during the First Liberian Civil War.

Civitas was also involved in the case of Jucontee Thomas Woewiyu. Woewiyu founded the NPFL with Charles Taylor and served as Spokesman and Defence Minister until political dissonance led him to create and lead the NPFL-CRC during Liberia’s First Civil War (1989-1996). 

In May 2014, Thomas Woewiyu was arrested at the Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, U.S.A, upon his return from a trip to Liberia. Woewiyu was charged with 2 counts of fraudulently attempting to obtain citizenship, 4 counts of fraud in immigration documents, 3 counts of false statements in relation to naturalization, and 7 counts of perjury.  

June 11, 2018 marked the start of Woewiyu’s immigration fraud trial. Over 35 witnesses testified to his direct and indirect involvement with war crimes during the civil war. After 13 days in court, the jury found Woewiyu guilty on 11 of 16 counts on 3 July 2018; his maximum possible sentence is 75 years in prison.

Woewiyu, whose sentencing was a couple of times, died recently from the deadly Covid-19.

Woewiyu’s trial marked the first time ever that somebody who held a ministerial position during the First Liberian Civil War faced justice and the first time that the atrocities of the NPFL – the most violent rebel faction active from 1989-1996 – were documented in a courtroom. 

MONROVIA – Agnes Reeves Taylor who prides herself as the ‘Mother of the NPFL Revolution’ which was waged by jailed former President Charles Taylor, her ex-husband, to unseat then-President Samuel K. Doe, denies all allegations of wartime torture and murder leveled against her, but admits to being given a pistol by Taylor’s militias for self-protection.

Report by Lennart Dodoo, ldodoo@frontpageafricaonline.com

Madam Taylor made the admission in Monrovia on Monday, June 27 while speaking to journalists on her incarceration in the United Kingdom for allegedly committing war crimes and crimes against humanity and why the British Justice system dropped the case and freed her from prison.

She was arrested in London in 2017 and charged with eight counts of torture and conspiracy to commit torture as part of her husband’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia, which in the 1990s participated in one of Africa’s bloodiest recent civil wars.

The charges were dismissed on December 6, 2019.

The UK law that Agnes Taylor was charged under only applies to people involved in acts of torture who were “acting in an official capacity” at the time.

This means that they must have worked for the government or been members of a rebel group that had a certain kind of authority / control over the area where the alleged crimes occurred.

Agnes Taylor was charged for offenses allegedly committed in 1990 in certain areas of Nimba county.

Ultimately the judge decided that the evidence the UK prosecutors had provided the court was not enough to prove that the NPFL had the required level of authority/control in Nimba at the time of the alleged crimes, in order for Agnes Taylor to be prosecuted under that law.

I was Given A Pistol

Despite denying allegation of her involvement with the civil war, Madam Taylor admitted to carrying a pistol but questioned whether there was any law at the time that prohibited her from carrying one.

“I had a pistol, I don’t deny that. Was there a law against carrying a pistol at that time? We were in a militarized situation. I was given a pistol and I know what you’re referring to – it’s a picture of me that’s being circulated. That picture was taken by a journalist, Patrick Robert, a French journalist. That picture was taken on August 17 [1990].”

She explained that she had gone to the Duside Hospital in Harbel, Margibi County to sympathize with some wounded people that had been evacuated from the St. Joseph Catholic Hospital in Monrovia and access what needs they had in order for her to speak to the NGOs for them to provide food and medicine.

“I was advised by my bodyguard commander that because they were people that were evacuated from Monrovia, he did not know who is how because when I go around them, I’ll mingle with everybody. They thought that wearing a military uniform at that point and having a pistol serves as a disincentive for anyone to just openly try to attack me,” she explained.

I Played a Motherly Role

Madam Taylor said her role during the civil crisis at the time was purely humanitarian gestures. According to her, she ran a charity dubbed “National Emergency Relief Organization” which was distributing rice, medical supplies and also coordinated the affairs of the non-governmental organizations that came into the country at the time.

“As a wife, I did as much as I could to minimize any kind of difficulties that civilians and Liberians in general faced… I was a wife and a mother. In fact, they referred to me as the ‘Mother of the Revolution’ was not because of military role, it was because I was a mother to all,” she said.

War Crimes Court Establishment or Not?

Though being aware that war crimes are international crimes that must be prosecuted, Ms. Taylor said the establishment of a special tribunal in Liberia to hear cases relating to atrocities committed during the war is a matter that should be left to the Liberian people to decide.

She said most importantly, Liberians should be asked if they have restorative justice or retributive justice. “We have a fragile country; what would be best in the interest of peace. I will be happy with any position that Liberians would adopt,” she said.

Madam Taylor added: “I personally have no fear of a war crimes tribunal, I’m not a perpetrator of war crimes, I was not mentioned in the TRC Report and the British Police went to the archive of where all the statements were kept from the proceedings of the TRC, that included statements taken in the diaspora… There are 74,000 statements kept in the archives of the University of Georgia, they went through all those statements searching for any account of any activity that is supposed to have been perpetrated by me. Well, thanks be to God, there was not a single of any of these accounts,” she said.

“I had a pistol, I don’t deny that. Was there a law against carrying a pistol at that time? We were in a militarized situation. I was given a pistol and I know what you’re referring to – it’s a picture of me that’s being circulated. That picture was taken by a journalist, Patrick Robert, a French journalist. That picture was taken on August 17 [1990].”

– Agnes Reeves Taylor, Ex-wife of Jailed President Charles Taylor

Guilt by Association?

She described lead war crimes court advocate Hassan Bility and Civitas Maxima and its subsidiary GJRP as being on the “rampage with venom and will do anything to keep their funding coming.”

She views the allegations levelled against her and her subsequent incarceration pending trial was “guilt by association.

“Guilt by association appears to be the locus in cases related to Liberia. This poses a threat to anyone of any significance who dares travel or live in a western country,” she stated.

She added: “Maybe, all of Charles Taylor’s former ministers, former Ambassadors, former professional associates may just one day be picked up on frivolous charges and deemed guilty by association. This kind of precedent must not be allowed to go unchallenged. And I say to you here that these lies will not go unchallenged by me.  The truth must be known and people need to see them for who they really are.

 Hassan Billy and his GJRP group have manipulated Western countries to believe that he is a renowned journalist and human rights, activist. I beg to differ. When did he become a renowned journalist? There have been many renowned journalists over the years and some of you are here today. This erstwhile individual claiming to be a renowned Liberian Journalist is nothing but a, fraud, Bounty Hunter, and mercenary. He has no conscience or moral compass.”

AGNES REEVES-TAYLOR is the latest actor to proclaim that she had no role to play in Liberia’s long-running civil war. “They called me Mother of the Revolution because I was everyone’s mother. I did not play any military role during the war. I was wife of Charles Taylor”, she said at a news conference Monday.

AROUND 250,000 people were killed, and many thousands more fled the fighting.

FATHERS, MOTHERS, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, loved ones, friends and family members endured pain, suffering and losses and scores of others are still grieving to come to terms with the toll of the war, after more than a decade of senseless fighting and killings.

THROUGHOUT THE PERIOD, no one went on record to speak out against the atrocities; no one within the vicinity of Mr. Taylor, Prince Johnson or any of the warring factions, said anything publicly, that the killings had to stop, that innocent people were dying, that the war was taking a toll and a tribal tone and many lives were being lost without valuable explanations.

APPEARING BEFORE the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in January 2009, former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf challenged any member of a former warring faction to prove she was a member, saying she was never a member of any of the warring factions. “I have absolutely not supported any warring faction and none of them can say I supported them, “she said.

ACKNOWLEDGING THAT like thousands of Liberians, she was a sympathizer, Sirleaf admitted making contribution to an amount of US$10,000.00 that was donated to the NPFL by the Association of Constitutional Democracy (ACDL) for relief operations in Nimba County at the height of the conflict. “After the killing of Jackson Doe, Kpolleh and others, we then concluded that that thing about Taylor was not what it was meant to be.”

VERY FEW actors have acknowledged actual roles in the war, except for the likes of Prince Y. Johnson, leader of the breakaway Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia(INPFL) and Joshua Milton Blahyi, known by his nom de guerre General Butt Naked.

Blahyi was known for his violence and atrocities during the First LiberianCivil War in the early 1990s while multiple videos and images of Johnson’s atrocities are available on the worldwide web.

SADLY, NO ONE AT THE time of the civil war, ever recalled Madam Reeves-Taylor ever trumpeting herself as the “Mother of the Revolution, a label she appeared to happily embraced during her breakout news conference, since her return to Liberia and release from prison in the United Kingdom.

ADDRESSING THE ALLEGATIONS against her for the first time, Madam Reeves-Taylor acknowledged that she has never, until now,  had an opportunity to tell my side of the story. “All you have heard is the account given by my so-called accusers howbeit flawed. Under normal circumstances I would have ignored what was being said but due to the grievous and heinous nature of these allegations, I am compelled to respond with the truth.”

REEVES-TAYLOR, WHO was placed on a UN travel ban and Asset Freeze for a period of 11 years, dismissed allegations that she was the commander of Gborplay from January 1990 and thereby held 80 odd women in a house as comfort women for NPFL fighters.

SHE ALSO DISMISSED allegations that she was the 2nd in command to Charles Taylor, the Commander of the Wild Geese, the Commander of SBU, the Commander of the WACs. “The Commander of a group I have never heard of called Wives Force and the Commander of another group called Wise Brigade. I was also said to be the Minister of Health, the Commander of border patrol and the Commander of the Parker Paint checkpoint where I supposedly killed 200 persons every day. Now it is obvious that these are monstrous, nefarious lies.”

MADAM REEVES-TAYLOR lamented: “Guilt by association appears to be the locus in cases related to Liberia. This poses a threat to anyone of any significance who dares travel or live in a western country. These so-called NGOs (Civitas Maximum and its subsidiary GJRP) are on a rampage with venom and will do anything to keep their funding coming. They are willing to stoop to any level including scripting witnesses and developing an alternative reality to the truth in order to gain relevance internationally. THIS NEEDS TO STOP!”

UNTIL THOSE at the helm of power begin to see a strong reason to revisit the TRC recommendations, those who lost their lives in the civil war may have just died in vain The truth of what actually happened to them is now being disinfected by witnesses who were at the center of the war and in close proximity of warlords and their band of killers and looters, who killed innocent people, who went on a vengeance spree.

SHE ACCUSED Mr. Hassan Billy and his Global Justice & Research Project(GJRP) of  manipulating Western countries to believe that he is some a renown journalist and human rights activist. “I beg to differ. When did he become a renown journalist. There have been many renown journalist over the years and some of you are here today. This erstwhile individual claiming to be a renowned Liberian Journalist is nothing but a, fraud, Bounty Hunter and mercenary. He has no conscience or moral compass.”

SHE URGED the Liberian judiciary to seize this opportunity for justice and fully review the matter that subjugated me to solitary confinement, bringing mental and physical humiliation to my person on foreign soil. I came to Liberia to face my so-called accusers in an environment where they claim these crimes occurred.  I am home to join my fellow citizens to help in the rebuilding of our country for the good of all. Now that I have been vindicated.  I will join with all to rally around our government and work in the interest of peace and development.”

SADLY, ELEVEN years after the final TRC report was completed and presented to former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf,, none of the recommendations seen as essential for achieving justice, reconciliation and continued economic, social and political rehabilitation of Liberia, has been implemented.

ELEVEN YEARS on, no valuable Strategic Roadmap for National Healing, Peacebuilding and Reconciliation, and the Agenda for Transformation have been discussed. 

THE PALAVA HUT MECHANISM regarded as the only current effort that could foresee some form of justice, using traditional mechanisms and address lower level crimes has not been discussed.  Additionally,  the Agenda for Transformation which recognizes that “true reconciliation in Liberia is currently hindered by inadequate accountability for human rights violations committed during the civil war has also not been addressed.

WITH ALL THESE key mechanisms being ignored, it is unfair for anyone who was such close proximity of Mr. Taylor and the NPFL to now claim that they had no role in the war.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE, that tHE UK LAW which Agnes Taylor was charged under only applies to people involved in acts of torture who were “acting in an official capacity” at the time.  This means that they must have worked for the government or been members of a rebel group that had a certain kind of authority / control over the area where the alleged crimes occurred.

SHE WAS charged for offenses allegedly committed in 1990 in certain areas of Nimba county. Some courts in the UK thought that the kind of authority / control the NPFL had in Nimba at the time Agnes Taylor was allegedly involved in acts of torture was sufficient to send her case to trial. However, the highest UK Court had a slightly different understanding of the kind of authority / control that is required under that particular UK law. Because of that, the UK judge that was hearing her case had to reconsider whether she could be prosecuted under that law.

THE JUDGE decided that the evidence the UK prosecutors had provided the court was not enough to prove that the NPFL had the required level of authority / control in Nimba at the time of the alleged crimes, in order for Agnes Taylor to be prosecuted under that law. “(…) I have asked myself in relation to each Count (…) whether there is sufficient evidence, taken at its reasonable heighest, upon which a jury could properly conclude that, at the time and location of each offence, the NPFL was exercising governmental function in the relevant area. In my view the answer, in each instance, is clearly in the negative.”

THERE IS ANOTHER UK law under which any person (not only people “acting in an official capacity”) may be prosecuted for torture, but because it only came into legal force in 1991, Agnes Taylor’s alleged involvement in torture in 1990 cannot be prosecuted under that law. The law cannot be applied to crimes that occurred before it came into legal force.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE that the crimes that Agnes Taylor allegedly committed could qualify as war crimes and crimes against humanity. Unfortunately, they could not be charged as such under UK law. Like the broader definition of torture described above (applying to all persons) which came into force only in 1991, these crimes did not exist in UK domestic law at the time of the events in question.

CONTRARY TO WHAT she stated in her news conference Tuesday, her release from prison does not in anyway mean that the Court did not believe the witnesses/victims who spoke about crimes that Agnes Taylor allegedly committed. In fact, the case never went to trial, no witnesses or victims ever got to testify against Agnes Taylor.

WHAT IT MEANS is that the merits of the allegations against Agnes Taylor, as well as the credibility and reliability of the victims/witnesses, were not challenged by the court decision. More importantly, these important elements remain untested.

THIS BY NO MEANS, mean that Reeves-Taylor is innocent. It simply means that the case never went to the trial stage because of the legal issues noted above. In fact, the UK Court noted in its judgment dismissing the charges against Agnes Taylor that she did not dispute, when she applied for the charges agaisnt her to be dismissed (direct quote from UK Court judgment):“that there is prima facie evidence[1] that she held a high rank in the NPFL and (…) carried out, whether personally, or by giving orders, or by acquiescing in, the acts of torture (…) which took place in, or on the border of, Nimba County.”

REEVES-TAYLOR could still be prosecuted for her alleged involvement in torture, as well as other alleged crimes, if a country that has the authority to prosecute her has a law enabling it.

UNTIL THOSE at the helm of power begin to see strong reason to revisit the TRC recommendations, those who lost their lives in the civil war may have just died in vain. The truth of what actually happened to them is now being disinfected by witnesses who were at the center of the war and in close proximity of warlords and their band of killers and looters, who killed innocent people, who went on a vengeance spree.

NOW, THEY ALL get to walk free with impunity and never have to answer to the families of the  people they killed and the lives and properties they ruined.

WHAT THIS guarantees is that the next time anything resembling a war takes place in Liberia, one can expect to see the same atrocities committed because every Tom, Dick and Harry will feel that there is simply no punishment for war crimes, not in Liberia, and maybe not in this generation.