April 4, 2023 [Liberia] Day 43: Final day in Monrovia
Witness Defense 08
The defense questions Defense 08
The defense began by asking Defense 08 about his work for the Special Court for Sierra Leone. The witness testified that he began working for the Special Court in 2003. Before that, he worked as a police officer. He worked for the Special Court until 2010 as a security guard. He protected Gibril Massaquoi from March 10, 2003. He was guarding a safe house on Pipeline, the first one that Gibril Massaquoi was placed in. It was located on Wilkinson Road, after Congo Cross.
Defense 08 had sent photographs of this safe house to Saleem Vahidy, he had taken them himself. The defense showed the photographs to the witness, they had been included in case file. The witness identified the fence and barbed wire in the photographs and confirmed they were there when Gibril Massaquoi lived in the house. He was brought in on 10 March. The witness began working on 7 March. Gibril Massaquoi lived in the building for one year. There were other people being protected by the Special Court at the time. Different people had different security levels. Gibril Massaquoi was a high-profile witness, a key witness. His protection was different from those who were just monitored: he had security guards in the safe house. Those without security guards were still checked on every day, despite not having full-time security.
The witness explained that Gibril Massaquoi had 24-hour security every day of the week from the very beginning. In the morning there were two security guards, one of them was armed. They had three shifts, morning, afternoon and night. The morning shift ran from 7am to 2pm, and the night shift began at 8pm. Gibril Massaquoi came to the safe house with his family. This included his wife Elizabeth, his children, and Michael Bona. Defense 08 did not know Gibril Massaquoi or his family before they came to the safe house. He knew the other guards before he started working at Massaquoi’s safe house, they were all former policemen.
Defense 08 described that with every shift change, the guards would mark down the change of guards in a logbook and they would check that the witness and their family were present in the safe house. This check was conducted every time the shift changed. Gibril was called Goofy in the logbook. They would write down that Goofy and the family were safe in the logbook. There was only entrance to the property: a bigger gate for cars and a smaller gate. The gates were normally locked. The house itself had two doors, a front door and a back door. These doors were also locked.
The witness testified that Gibril Massaquoi could not move freely from the safe house in 2003. He did not leave the safe house unless he was called by the Special Court office to a meeting. The deputy chief at the office would receive all requests for Gibril to leave the safe house. The security guard on duty would send the request to the office. Defense 08 testified that Gibril never left the safe house at his own request without a security guard. On request, he could leave the property with guards. Sometimes the guards took Gibril to a meeting with his lawyer or just drove him around the city. If the Special Court wanted to meet with Gibril, the OTP [Office of the Prosecutor] sent a request to the VWS [Victim and Witness Section], who then directed the request to the guards on duty at the safe house. It was either the chief of WVS, Saleem, or the deputy chief, who notified the guards that they needed Gibril at a certain time. The guards would then notify Gibril, so that he could be ready to leave when needed. Somebody on staff would drive Gibril to the meetings with OTP. The duration of these trips depended on the OTP’s needs, but according to Defense 08, Gibril never stayed overnight. Gibril never spent the night outside the safe house.
Defense 08 testified that, in 2003, he only had one day off per week. For six days a week, he was either guarding a safe house or working at the office. He saw Gibril every day, even if he was working at the office, he would still go and check on every witness daily. He added that it would have been very risky for Gibril to leave for several days. They had 24-hour security and the guards checked the apartment twice a day.
Gibril Massaquoi’s role as a high-profile witness was based on his testimony and role as a witness. It was decided by the OTP. The witness testified that if Gibril left the safe house, he would have been killed. He was threatened by his colleagues, but the witness could not say who they were. In 2003, they took Gibril outside the safe house only once every two or three months, as the situation was very tense. After his testimony, Massaquoi was not allowed to go outside without a request. They took him to drink palm wine in 2003, but the witness could not provide an exact date. Massaquoi never broke the rules of the safe house. Defense 08 could not say if Gibril had left the safe house to go to a funeral after 2003. Gibril Massaquoi was given a weekly allowance that he had to sign for. When the first safe house began, there was a cook that cooked for the family. She worked there until the end of the trial. Massaquoi received the allowance personally in cash, he had to sign for it. The security guard working at the office brought the money every Friday.
Defense 08 testified about the threat to the safe house. He was not there, but his colleague was present at the house. His colleague was attacked at the third safe house in Kington. The attacker was armed and there was a struggle with a security guard, who was injured. Gibril Massaquoi and his family remained safe during the attack. After the attack, they changed safe houses.
The witness repeated that when he started working at the safe house, there were two guards per shift and one of the guards was armed. Later, when they changed the safe house after the attack, there was an armed guard permanently stationed outside. Over time, up to 15 security guards were added. At the very beginning, there were only four guards in total. The colleagues threatening to kill Massaquoi were from the RUF. They wanted to kill him because he had testified against them. Massaquoi never left the safe house without the guards being aware, the gate was always locked. Massaquoi’s safe house had the highest security level. The people living in the different safe houses did not know who else was in the other houses nor where they were located.
Defense 08 knew Defense 09, he was also a witness of the Special Court. His safe house did not have security guards, the guards just went there to check on him every day. He was allowed to move outside his safe house. The witness also knew Y9, another protected witness. At the beginning, Y9 had security guards but his security was later reduced after his testimony in court. The witness estimated that Y9 came under their protection in 2004 or 2005. The witness named two other people who had the same security level as Gibril Massaquoi.
The prosecution questions Defense 08
The prosecution began by asking about the date when Defense 08 began working for the Special Court. The witness testified that he remembers the date so well because he still has an employee ID card that specifies the first day he worked at the Special Court. He did not have this ID card with him during the hearing. He remembered the date of Gibril Massaquoi’s arrival, 10 March 2003, because he had picked him up from his apartment. The witness showed various employee ID cards that he had received from the Special Court, the first of which showed an expiry date of 7 March 2005. The prosecution pointed out that the witness had testified in the lower court that Massaquoi arrived on 8 March 2003. The witness denied this and insisted that he had testified that he arrived on 10 March 2003. The prosecution further pointed out that he had told the Finnish police in his interview that Massaquoi had arrived at the safe house in May 2003. The witness denied saying so and suggested that the police made a mistake. He insisted that the date was 10 March 2003, because Massaquoi was the first witness that was brought into the safe house, a few days after the witness had begun working there. According to Defense 08, the date was recorded on a document somewhere. The witness could not produce the document for the court. He testified that he remembered that date of Massaquoi’s arrival so much better than Y9’s because Massaquoi was their first witness.
Defense 08 testified that the first safe house in Pipeline, on Wilkinson Road, and had two stories. There was one room downstairs and four rooms upstairs. Massaquoi and his family lived upstairs. During his witness protection, Gibril Massaquoi lived in four different safe houses. The second was located on Jomo Kenyatta Road, near the Special Court. The third was located in Kington and the fourth in Light, coming from King Harman Road. The witness could not remember the address of the third safe house. He testified that Gibril Massaquoi lived in the first safe house for almost exactly one year. The witness could not recall the date of the attack on the third safe house.
The witness then explained the security guards’ shifts. For the first few days, there were four guards in total, until they received a few more guards and began working in shifts. They worked in three shifts. During the first few days, when there were only four guards, they worked very long days. Two guards would work a 24-hour shift throughout the day and night and the next morning, two others would come and relieve them. This arrangement continued for approximately two weeks. After receiving additional guards, they began working in pairs during each shift, three shifts a day with six guards in total.
Defense 08 described the rotation list that specified when a guard would work in the office or at the safe house. Office work did not take place at night. Gibril Massaquoi’s safe house was checked twice per day during shift changes in the morning and in the afternoon. Every safe house was also checked every day by the guard working in the office. Mr Massaquoi had to sign a document for the allowance and Defense 08 checked the document for his signature every Friday when he was working in the office. The security guards also worked as drivers. Defense 08 testified that even on days where he was assigned driver duty, he would still perform checks on every safe house.
The witness further testified that the cook, H4, was working at Massaquoi’s first safe house. She arrived there the next day, on 11 March and worked for over a month. Massaquoi’s family did not have a key to the doors downstairs. The family had access to the yard without the guards present, as the property had a fence. Children could not leave the property but could go outside in the yard.
Defense 08 knew that Massaquoi’s life was in danger because he was a high-profile witness who had 24/7 security arrangements. He named the 3 other guards with him at the beginning. Michael Bona, Gibril Massaquoi’s brother, is currently in Finland. The witness had spoken with Gibril Massaquoi and Michael Bona after 2010, when he stopped working at the Special Court. They met whenever Massaquoi and Bona came to Freetown, and sometimes he and Gibril talk on the phone. The last time Michael Bona visited him in Freetown was in late 2022. He walked past Defense 08’s office and told him that he had been asking around for him. Michael Bona only came to say hello, they did not discuss Gibril nor his arrest in Finland. The witness did not become aware of Gibril Massaquoi’s arrest until Mikael, a Finnish policeman, came to his office to interview him. The prosecution pointed out that the witness had told the Finnish police that Michael Bona came to visit him in October 2020. The witness replied that he cannot remember the month, Bona just came to say hello and he had not heard from him since.
Further questions from the defense
The witness testified that Michael Bona did not give him any instructions regarding the safe house or how to answer questions relating to Gibril Massaquoi or the safe house.
Questions from the court
The court had a few remaining questions for the witness.
Defense 08 testified that the person wounded in the attack on the safe house was the attacker, who was wounded by the security guard. The witness only met with Michael Bona once. They had not met after his hearing at the lower court. In 2003, the Massaquoi family did not have any visitors. After his testimony, there were some visitors. His family members came to visit him before he left. Even after his testimony, Mr Massaquoi was not allowed to visit friends without the security guards.
The witness confirmed that he had spoken with Gibril Massaquoi recently on the phone, they talked about their families. The court pointed out that he had mentioned a different number of guards in the lower court. The witness insisted that there were four guards in the beginning and gave their names to the court.
Witness Defense 18 is heard
The defense questions Defense 18
The defense began by asking Defense 18 to explain her role as a Paramount Chief. The witness testified that she is a traditional leader in a chiefdom. Her chiefdom is the Gallinas Chiefdom in Pujehun district, Southern Sierra Leone. Her term began on 13 April 2019. She had tried to run for Paramount Chief in 2002 but had not succeeded. As Paramount Chief, she leads the whole chiefdom and makes all the decisions. The witness testified that Gibril Massaquoi is her cousin, but traditionally she calls him her brother. In 1999, Gibril Massaquoi was in Freetown. The government was trying to restore law and order in the country and chiefdom elections were being planned. The witness met Gibril Massaquoi in Freetown in relation to these paramount chief elections. Before the 2002 elections, the previous leader of the Gallinas-Perry chiefdom had been elected in 1973. The chief elected in Gallinas-Perry before 2002 was Defense 18’s father. He ruled the chiefdom for 14 years. In 2002, Defense 18 was running against PC Issa Bemba Kamara, Mohammed Mansaray, Mohammed Massaquoi, James Galiwa Massaquoi and others, there were 7 candidates altogether. PC Issa Bemba Kamara had gotten elected in 2002. Defense 18 sometimes met Gibril Massaquoi at his home in Murray Town, sometimes at Foday Sankoh’s residence. She knew that he was involved with Foday Sankoh but wasn’t sure exactly what for. Her campaign in the 2002 elections began in 1999, but the process was slow due to disarmament. According to Defense 18, it is common that campaigns in paramount chief elections take years. Originally, the elections were supposed to take place in 1999 or 2000 but they were postponed because there was not enough money for disarmament. The second time the elections were postponed was in 2002. Then, they all campaigned and Defense 18 lost.
The witness explained the campaigning process. They went to villages and towns in the chiefdom and talked to people. They put posters in public places and when the elections were postponed, they wrote over the year with the new year. Gibril Massaquoi was also involved in the campaigning. He planned campaign meetings, provided them with vehicles, and worked as the secretary of the campaign team. Gibril Massaquoi was also involved in visiting the towns and village in the Gallinas chiefdom. They went on four-day campaign trips every month and would return to Freetown. The campaign team had multiple meetings and Gibril prepared reports on the campaigning efforts. By the end of 2001, the campaigning became more intense as the elections were coming up. Everybody was campaigning more and faster. At the time, they campaigned almost every day. They would either go somewhere to campaign, or invite people to meet them. Gibril Massaquoi also participated in this phase of the campaign and invited people, the witness stated: “All of us, we did it as a family, we speak with one voice”.
Defense 18 was not aware whether Gibril Massaquoi participated in other elections in 2002. Gibril was a part of a movement in 2000 to 2001, they used to meet in Sankoh’s apartment. The government had asked them to come out of the bush and Gibril participated in the peace process later, in the Lomé peace negotiations and in Ivory Coast. Gibril Massaquoi travelled with Sankoh to Lomé and Togo. He also participated in the peace negotiations in Sierra Leone, but the witness did not know any details.
The witness had seen Gibril Massaquoi after the 2002 paramount chief elections. They met in early 2003 in Freetown, on Hannah Benka Coker Street near the Youyi building. The witness was on her way back from a funeral and happened to see Gibril on the street. They stopped to say hello and see how everyone was doing. At the time, Gibril was living in Kissi, Thunder Hills.
The prosecution questions Defense 18
The prosecution began by asking about the Gallinas-Perry chiefdom, currently known as Gallinas. The chiefdom did not have a chief between 1990 and 2002 because of the war. The witness confirmed that the election in which she ran took place on 10 January 2002. The prosecution referred to a piece of evidence, a study from Harvard University on the chiefdoms of Sierra Leone. The witness confirmed that the man who got elected in 2002, Issa Bemba Kamara was also called Alhaji J B Kamara Kroma as noted in the evidence, that was his previous name. The prosecution referred to the piece of evidence, which indicated that the next elections after the death of Defense 18’s father were held in 2005. The witness denied this, stating that she went to university in 2005, and her mother died in 2005, 3 years after the election.
Defense 18 testified that they conducted campaigning trips in 1999, 2000 and 2001. After the attack on Sankoh’s house, she did not see Gibril Massaquoi until 2001 in Freetown. The attack took place on 8 May 2000, and the next time she saw Gibril Massaquoi was in November 2001 in Thunder Hills. She confirmed that Gibril Massaquoi did not participate in the campaigning between 8 May 2000 and November 2001, they all had a break because the country was in a state of instability. After November 2001, Gibril participated in numerous campaigning trips, because the elections were so close. According to Defense 18, there were more than ten trips. Gibril Massaquoi also drafted reports about the campaigning, for example in late 2001.
The witness had not met Gibril Massaquoi after February 2003. Gibril had not told her that he would have gone to Liberia.
Finally, Defense 18 showed a campaign poster to the court.
