MONROVIA – A prosecution witness has been caught impersonating before the Finnish Court of Appeal when giving his testimony Gabriel Massaquoia former commander with the Sierra Leone Revolutionary United Front, (RUF).
Believed to be “Soldier 12,” who, in a hearing in Monrovia, testified before the Tampere District Court, which later acquitted Massaquoi in April 2021 of charges of aggravated war crimes and greater crimes against humanity, prosecutors called him to strengthen their arguments mentioned. the trial court wrongly acquitted Massaquoi of his charges.
But it seems that his testimony did more harm than good to them.
“I didn’t lie, it wasn’t me there,” the witness told the three-judge panel that found impersonation. The judges have adjourned the hearing to watch the video of the testimony of the original Soldier 12 to the district court.
“But I’m here too. My name is CQ (real name withheld to protect him from reprisals). You must have thought my name was someone else’s.”
The name on her ID also does not match the name she claims.
“This KTP is a political KTP,” he said when asked. “I have to change my name and use the name of my country on this ID card because people don’t want Muslims.”
Before taking a break, he confirmed that he was Solider 12.
The motive of the witness remains unknown.
Legal analysts said it could raise questions about how the prosecutors (the same team as the judges in the district court) did not know that he was not the person testifying in court in 2021.
It remains to be seen whether the testimony of a person who can call the testimony of another prosecution witness into question. Before Monday’s incident, prosecutors seemed to be proceeding well, with many witnesses accusing Mr. Massaquoi of violating the rules of the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, where he was a “protected witness” and came to Liberia to fight in the country. the second civil war between 2001-2003.
Some even accused him of ordering rape and murder, including burning civilians alive in buildings. Many of the prosecution’s witnesses also claimed he was “Angel Gabriel” the name he allegedly used, when he committed his evil deeds.
READ ALSO: The court heard that Gibril Massaquoi did not leave Sierra Leone in 2003
Before the incident, Monday’s controversial witness, who claimed to be a member of the “Special Forces Unit” when Charles Taylor was President in 1997, said he was deployed in Lofa County and saw RUF fighters controlling border towns, including Foya. , Menikonah, Salama and Vahun.
They named the RUF commander as Sam Bockarie, aka “General Mosquito,” Superman and Mark, who were accused of many atrocities, including the murder of two former Liberian army soldiers, their wives, and their children.
“In front of me, I saw him (Mark),” said the witness. He claimed to have filed Mark’s complaint with “my commander and he took him from among us.”
However, he did not say whether Mr Massaquoi was in Lofa at the time of the act.
But “Soldier 37,” the first witness Monday said he believed Mr. Massaquoi was in Liberia in 2001 and 2022.
“It was either the end or the middle of 2001,” said Soldier 37. “But I believe it was 2001/2002 when the RUF fighters came to Liberia. I know because they [Charles Taylor] send a convoy for them.”
The witness told the court that he knew Massaquoi in Lofa when RUF soldiers entered Liberia.
He said before the arrival of the RUF soldiers, he, a Liberian soldier, in Lofa had been informed that some fighters had come from Sierra Leone to help him. He said at that time, the war intensified in the district.
Soldier 37 told the court that he met Massaquoi in Kamatahun, where he claimed Mr. Massaquoi gave orders to his fellow RUF soldiers to kill civilians in the town. The bodies were burned in a building, according to him. However, he could not tell the court whether the alleged murders took place in the building, or whether the bodies were moved to the building before it was set on fire.
He explained that the Liberian soldiers present at the time were outraged that Liberian civilians were massacred on the instructions of Mr. Massaquoi, allegedly causing tension between government forces and the RUF fighters in their midst.
“Other soldiers wanted to kill him after he ordered the killing of civilians in Kamatahun,” said Soldier 37. “The information reached “50” (Benjamin Yeaten, Taylor’s top general), so he was told to report to the headquarters in Vahun. . If he going to sleep there, there will be a fight that night.”
Soldier 37 said Mr Massaquoi entered Liberia via Lofa with other RUF fighters, including Bockarie and Superman.
He said Mr. Massaquoi was a learned man among them. The witness said that Mr. Massaquoi often did not enter the battlefield but gave orders to the fighters.
Coverage of the appeal of Massaquoi’s release is a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the West African Justice Reporting Project.
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