Liberia

In Liberia, a statue of Prince Y. Johnson has been erected in front of apartment blocks. A group of young people surround it, some sitting on the pedestal.

Opinion

Prince Y. Johnson: The Great Escape

16 December 2024 by Aaron Weah (for Justice Info)

Prince Y. Johnson was one of Liberia’s most feared and charismatic warlords, and yet he had managed to reinvent himself as a born-again Christian preacher and a popular politician in post-war Liberia. His death at the age of 72 le [...]

Joseph Boakai, the President of Liberia, is having difficulty choosing the head of the war crimes tribunal. Photo: Boakai delivers a speech.

Opinion

Why it is so hard to appoint a director for Liberia’s war crimes court

8 October 2024 by Aaron Weah (for Justice Info)

The first eight months of President Joseph Boakai in office has been dramatic in the process of establishing a war crimes court in Liberia. On May 2, the President signed a law creating an Office to establish the War and Economic [...]

Acquitted twice in Finland on charges of war crimes in Liberia, Gibril Massaquoi is claiming more than 800,000 euros in financial compensation. Photo: Massaquoi, wearing a dark suit, laughs during an interview with Justice Info.

Gibril Massaquoi tries for the jackpot

28 June 2024 by Thierry Cruvellier (Justice Info)

Former Sierra Leonean rebel commander Gibril Massaquoi, twice acquitted by the Finnish courts, has filed a claim for compensation totalling around 815,000 euros for his lengthy detention. He has also taken legal action in Liberia, [...]

A national tribunal for war crimes in Liberia - Photo: Joseph Boakai speaks before parliament.

Opinion

The evidence battleground for Liberia’s war crimes court

27 May 2024 by Aaron Weah (for Justice Info)

On May 2nd 2024, Liberian president Joseph Boakai signed an executive order to establish a War and Economic Crimes Court – a historic and long-awaited move in the path of redressing the wounds of the country's 1989-2003 destructiv [...]

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Gibril Massaquoi was acquitted on appeal following a second trial in Finland.

2 February 2024 by Thierry Cruvellier (Justice Info)

Massaquoi affair: epilogue to a fiasco On January 31, the Turku Court of Appeal in Finland confirmed the acquittal of Gibril Massaquoi on all charges. The former Sierra Leonean rebel commander was accused of multiple crimes committed in Liberia between 1999 and 2003. A [...]

Can Joseph Boakai, Liberia's new president, be seen as a hope for justice for past war crimes? Photo: Boakai stands on a platform in front of a crowd of supporters during his election campaign.

Opinion

27 November 2023 by Aaron Weah (for Justice Info)

Liberia has a new president: is there renewed hope for justice? On November 20, Joseph Boakai was officially elected president of Liberia, succeeding George Weah. Some hope that Boakai can finally deliver on the failed promises of wartime accountability. Others think that such prospect is doom [...]

George Weah, the President of Liberia, is keeping silent and leaving the truth about the war crimes he denounced at the start of his term of office on hold.

Opinion

12 October 2023 by Aaron Weah

George Weah’s politics of silence The first round of presidential elections in Liberia was held on October 10. What is the legacy of George Weah's six-year presidency on justice for the crimes committed during the civil war? Before entering politics, the former in [...]

Alieu Kosiah was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity at his trial in Switzerland.

5 June 2023 by Antoine Harari in Bellinzona (Switzerland)

Appeals court convicts Liberian Alieu Kosiah of crimes against humanity A Swiss appeals court on June 1 confirmed a 20-year prison sentence for Alieu Kosiah, former commander of an armed group in Liberia in the 1990s. Kosiah was already the first person convicted of war crimes by a Swiss civil court. [...]

Gibril Massaquoi: Finnish trial on appeal in Liberia

27 January 2023 by Thierry Cruvellier

Massaquoi case: Finnish court of appeal arrives in Liberia Finnish judges, prosecutors and lawyers are expected to arrive in the Liberian capital on 31 January. They are to stay for two months for the appeal trial of the former Sierra Leonean rebel commander, Gibril Massaquoi. Massaquoi w [...]

Drawing of Kunti Kamara during his conviction for crimes against humanity in France

3 November 2022 by Lena Bjurström

Liberian Kunti Kamara convicted in France for crimes against humanity On November 2, a French court found former Liberian rebel Kunti Kamara guilty of complicity in crimes against humanity during the civil war 30 years ago. He was also convicted of torture and aggravated acts of barbarism. The court [...]

Pencil drawing of a courtroom in Paris, in the trial of Kunti Kamara, for crimes committed in Liberia. Another Liberian (living in Switzerland), Alieu Kosiah, was called to testify.

24 October 2022 by Lena Bjurström

Liberian case in France: "too complicated to be tried by whites" Since October 10, former Liberian militiaman Kunti Kamara has been on trial in France for complicity in crimes against humanity. His trial mirrors the one held in Switzerland against a senior officer, Alieu Kosiah, convicted in Ju [...]

Ulimo fighters patrol in northern Monrovia, Liberia

AFP

10 October 2022 by AFP

First trial in France on the crimes of Liberia's civil wars While in Liberia no trial has taken place for the crimes of the civil wars that left at least 250,000 people dead, France is today opening the trial of a field commander, Kunti Kamara. He was fighting in the ranks of an armed grou [...]

Viktor Bout, a famous Russian arms dealer (who operated in Liberia), is seen in this photo behind bars (in 2010), imprisoned in Thailand. He may soon be released, exchanged for other prisoners.

15 September 2022 by James Harding Giahyue

Viktor Bout for Brittney Grinner: a prisoner exchange that forgets Liberia Viktor Bout, born in former Soviet Union, was once the world’s most infamous arms dealer. He was accused to have fueled many wars across the world, in particular in Liberia. In 2012 he was sentenced to 25 years in jail by a U.S. c [...]

Gibril Massaquoi at the Tempere court in Finland

Opinion

3 May 2022 by Lansana Gberie

Massaquoi acquittal: What has it Wrought? Lansana Gberie, a renowned expert on the civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia, provides an exclusive analysis of the trial of Gibril Massaquoi before a Finnish court, and how it led to a full acquittal on April 29. He worries ab [...]

Gibril Massaquoi

29 April 2022 by Thierry Cruvellier

Acquittal of Massaquoi: reality check for Finnish justice What was supposed to be an innovative and exemplary judicial experiment has turned into an adventurous rush to conviction, with questionable investigative practices and fanciful historical theories. On April 29, by acquitting Gibr [...]

Gibril Massaquoi, pensive, is installed in an armchair

18 February 2022 by Thierry Cruvellier

Liberia: Massaquoi freed from jail in run-up to Finnish verdict There’s a new surprise in the trial of Gibril Massaquoi. On Wednesday February 16, the Finnish court released this former Sierra Leonean rebel after almost two years in detention. The trial verdict is expected by April 29, and his [...]

Gibril Massaquoi and his lawyers in the courtroom of Tampere (Finland)

27 January 2022 by Thierry Cruvellier

Liberia: Massaquoi trial closes in Finland The trial of Gibril Massaquoi, a former Sierra Leonean rebel accused of crimes committed in Liberia, came to an end on Monday, January 24, before a Finnish court. One year after the start of this trial, which included four months [...]

Gibril Massaquoi during his trial in Finland

26 July 2021 by Thierry Cruvellier

In new twist, Massaquoi trial to return to Liberia There is a new twist in the trial of former Sierra Leonean rebel commander Gibril Massaquoi. The Finnish court that is trying him plans to return to Liberia to hold new hearings, provided Liberian authorities agree. According to t [...]

Alieu Kosiah

21 June 2021 by Antoine Harari

Switzerland: Kosiah convicted in first universal jurisdiction trial On June 18, after three months of deliberations, judges of the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona found former Liberian warlord Alieu Kosiah guilty of war crimes in the first universal jurisdiction trial to be held in Switzerlan [...]