August 25, 2023 [Finland] Day 57: Final phase of the trial begins
Documentary evidence is discussed
The court began the session by examining various pieces of written evidence presented by both the defense and the prosecution. The first two pieces of evidence were answers to questions that the defense and prosecution had asked the Special Court of Sierra Leone. Both parties had asked the Special Court about its evidence database and the interviews it conducted in Liberia. The third piece of evidence, an article published in the German magazine Die Zeit about Kamatahun Hassala, was presented by the defense.
Witness H5 is heard
The defense questions H5
The defense began by asking how H5 had gotten to know Gibril Massaquoi. The witness testified that he knows him from their RUF days in Sierra Leone. They first met in the Western Area, from Masiaka to Mile 81 and Bo. They met during the civil war in Sierra Leone. H5 was around 11 or 12 at the time, he was born on 4 November 1980. They were both RUF members at the time, he had been abducted as a young boy in Kailahun and met Massaquoi up to 2 years later. He was working under Superman, he was fetching water for his wife and doing chores for them. The witness went to Liberia with Superman around the same time as LURD’s second attempted attack on Liberia. Sam Bockarie was stationed in Buedu, while Superman had been stationed in Kono and Makeni. The witness was not aware of the exact movements of Sam Bockarie. He had seen him in Liberia.
The witness testified that Superman went to Liberia with a battalion of 60 to 80 men to support Charles Taylor’s troops against LURD, who was attacking the government and wanted to overthrow it. H5 was in Liberia with Benjamin Yeaten, they told him that he should go to school as he was smart, and that he should not go back to the RUF, but should stay with Yeaten. Yeaten “adopted” him when Superman crossed the border and Voinjama was recaptured from the rebels. From then on, H5 stayed with Yeaten. At the time, he was stationed in Monrovia. Benjamin Yeaten returned to Monrovia when the invasion ended, H5 estimated that this was around 1999 and 2000. After the rebels attacked and he was in Monrovia, he used to travel often to Lofa. He would go to Kolahun, Foya and Vahun, these were all locations where Benjamin Yeaten would have his base for a few weeks at a time. He was not a frontline commander, he stayed behind.
H5 saw Gibril Massaquoi in Lofa between 1999 and 2001. He testified that they met in Vahun in 2001 or 2002. The witness listed the Liberian soldiers and commanders that he remembered were in Lofa at the time, LURD was only in Lofa, so all the commanders were there: Benjamin Yeaten, the “boss himself,” Roland Duo, the Navy Chief of Staff, Christopher Varmo, aka Mosquito, was the leader of the First Army. Yeaten was in command of the SSS and its separate unit called Jungle Fire. There was also Junior and Sampson. Superman was in Lofa before he died, and so was Zigzag Marzah. The witness could not say what Massaquoi was doing in Vahun, but he was not alone; he was there with Morris Kallon, Mike Lamin and some others from the RUF. H5 speculated that they wanted to go to Monrovia to meet with President Taylor. They were only passing by Vahun, it was not possible to meet President Taylor without going through Benjamin Yeaten. He saw Massaquoi over two days. The witness was not aware whether Massaquoi had troops under his command in Lofa. He had gone from Lofa to Monrovia with Massaquoi and his friends, they travelled by car and motorbike.
The witness testified that he had not seen Massaquoi participate in combat. He knew Defense 07, he was the first commander to go to Liberia to help Taylor’s forces when LURD attacked for the first time in Lofa. The second time was when Superman went to Liberia. H5 had been in different areas where there had been fighting; he was in Foya the day it was attacked and also in Vahun when it was attacked. On his way to Monrovia, there had been an ambush in Kumbohun. The witness had heard of Kamatahun and the atrocities against civilians there. He had heard that there had been a massacre in Kamatahun Hassala, but he could not say much about it because he was not there personally. Zigzag Marzah had been arrested and imprisoned because of the incident. The witness was personally present when Zigzag was arrested in Sinkor. Yeaten was very angry with him and tortured him, and the President’s wife stepped in. H5 estimated that the government did not like what had happened in Popalahun and other places, it didn’t look good in the media. He speculated that the government arrested Zigzag to clear its image. The witness could not say when the arrest had taken place.
H5 was in Monrovia permanently and only went to Lofa if Benjamin Yeaten needed something there. He had also seen Massaquoi in Monrovia. They met after Superman’s death, maybe in 2001 or 2002. They met at White Flower, the President’s residence. H5 was in hospital when Superman was killed. From there, he went to Vahun, where Benjamin Yeaten was with Superman. They were supposed to travel to Monrovia, but Yeaten cancelled the trip. H5 wanted them to travel, because he wanted to see the African football qualifiers, but Yeaten told him no, as he had plans to kill Superman. Superman died about two days before H5 heard about it. The day he found out about Superman’s death, he saw Gibril Massaquoi at the White Flower. They met outside the White Flower, about two days after Superman’s death. The witness did not see Massaquoi again after this. At the time, LURD and government forces were fighting in Lofa, the situation in Monrovia was peaceful. LURD came to Monrovia and left many times.
The witness knew of World Wars I, II and III. He described the different battles and explained the different command structures in Liberian and Sierra Leonean armed forces. There were three attacks in total. During the third attack, the battles were fought between two bridges. Benjamin Yeaten was in charge at New Bridge, he was staying at EJ Roye. Roland Duo was in charge of Somalia Drive, between Freeport and Red Light. An Army Division was stationed at Waterside Bridge, led by Christopher Varmo, aka Mosquito. H5 had been to the two bridges, when he came back from Ghana. When asked about violence against civilians, he stated that civilians had no business on the battlefield. Government forces were also fighting between each other and were looting for personal gain, that is why Anti Looting Squad was formed. The witness did not know if Massaquoi was present during the World Wars.
H5 knew of Salami, his full name was Salami Kabbah. He was Benjamin Yeaten’s personal driver, a member of the SSS. Salami was killed during the fighting in Monrovia. The witness was not present when it happened, had been shot in the stomach during the first attack on Monrovia and he was receiving treatment in Ghana during the second attack. During the third attack, he was coming and going. That day, he was at EJ Roye with Benjamin Yeaten and Salami. He was talking with Salami, when there was a distress call from Somalia Drive. Something was needed from the ammunition depot at White Flower. Salami went to deal with the situation and Benjamin Yeaten went to meet with the President. The witness went to Sinkor and he got a call that a bomb had fallen and had killed Salami. He later saw Salami’s body, after the ceasefire. Salami was buried at the Old Road cemetery. Gibril Massaquoi was not present at the funeral. H5 was not sure whether there had been other people named Massaquoi present at the Waterside area, it is a common name.
The witness could not recall there being a group called aqbah. When fighting was ongoing, it was not possible for a government vehicle to travel from Monrovia to Kolahun, Voinjama or Vahun. The war ended in Monrovia in 2003, he was there to witness it. It was the same month that Charles Taylor left for Nigeria. The witness estimated that World War I began in 2002 or 2003. After the war, he stayed in Liberia until he was taken away by the Special Court. He did not see Gibril Massaquoi after the war until he saw him at the Special Court.
H5 found out about Gibril Massaquoi’s arrest in Finland on the webpage of Civitas Maxima. When he saw the news, he contacted people at Civitas Maxima, he knew Alan Wonder from the Special Court. They met in 2016 in Paris. He was waiting for a decision. Alan wrote him a recommendation letter. When H5 saw the news about Gibril’s arrest, he sent a screenshot of the Facebook page to Alan. He wrote to Alan and said that he doubted the timeline of the case, when Gibril Massaquoi was supposed to have been in Liberia. He also contacted Background 1. Neither of them answered despite them having communicated before. H5 had also spoken with Alan after the first judgment.
The witness had met Background 1 during the Second Liberian Civil War. Background 1 was arrested after publishing an article in 1999, 2000 or 2003. After Charles Taylor and Benjamin Yeaten saw the article, he was arrested and taken to Klay. H5 went with Benjamin Yeaten to see him in Klay. He declined to comment on whether Background 1 had been subjected to violence in Klay. He did not see Gibril Massaquoi there.
The prosecution questions H5
The prosecution began by asking about when Superman went to Liberia. The witness testified that it was around the second time that LURD attacked the Liberian government. They had been pushed back to Guinea after the first attack and during the second attack, Superman went to Liberia. This was in connection with the Liberian Civil War that began after 1996 when Charles Taylor had been elected President. Superman went to Liberia to help Taylor’s troops to repel the rebels, he pushed them to Guinea. Superman did not go to Guinea in connection with this particular battle, he went there later. He went from Sierra Leone to Guinea to fight. H5 did not know what kind of mission Superman was on at the time. He was certain that Superman had gone to Guinea, it was mentioned on the radio and in the newspapers.
H5 explained that Defense 07 went to Liberia during LURD’s first attack, to help the government. Superman was only there during the second attack. He could not say for how long Defense 07 had been in Liberia before Superman came, but estimated it was less than a year. When Defense 07 left for Liberia, Sam Bockarie was the leader of the RUF and when Superman went, the RUF was led by Issa Sesay. Defense 07 also went to Voinjama. H5 could not tell for how long Defense 07 stayed in Liberia. He explained that he had originally gone to Liberia with Superman, but he did not return to Sierra Leone with him as he stayed in Liberia with Benjamin Yeaten. After Superman had gone to Liberia to counter the second attack, H5 stayed permanently in Liberia.
When the witness moved to Monrovia, he was staying in Congo Town, at White Flower and at Benjamin Yeaten’s residence. He rented an apartment from Benjamin Yeaten’s little brother, Busy Boy. He had been to the RUF guest house in Liberia, it was in Sinkor. While he was in Monrovia, the RUF representatives were told to move out of the guest house. The RUF had a person taking care of the guest house. When Taylor came to power, he opened the borders for the RUF. Because of international pressure over Taylor’s RUF connections, the RUF was told to leave the guest house. H5 confirmed that the caretaker of the guest house was Defense 09. He used to be a part of Black Guy Unit, they were Foday Sankoh’s bodyguards. H5 knew that Defense 09 had gone to Monrovia before him, but he could not tell when. H5 was involved in getting Defense 09 as a witness at the Special Court and they were both moved from Liberia to Sierra Leone around the same time, after the arrest of Charles Taylor.
H5 and Benjamin Yeaten often went to Lofa after their move to Monrovia. Initially they went to Kolahun, then Vahun. Roland Duo was in Foya. There was fighting ongoing while he was in Lofa around this time. He saw RUF members there, they were fighting alongside government troops. H5 testified that Benjamin Yeaten transported arms to Lofa, he was the leader of the SSS and all supplies had to go through him. The RUF was incorporated into a unit called Jungle Fire led by a Liberian, to show that there was no official connection between the Liberian government and the RUF. H5 also testified that it was clear that diamonds were exchanged between the RUF and Charles Taylor. Benjamin Yeaten may have acted as a middleman, but the diamonds were for Charles Taylor. Taylor was supplying the RUF with ammunition and it was common knowledge that arms were exchanged for diamonds.
The witness testified that he was not personally present in Kamatahun when the atrocities were committed against civilians, but he had heard about it. Zigzag Marzah was arrested after this incident in Monrovia. He had heard Benjamin Yeaten discussing the incident, it took place in Kamatahun. H5 was not certain when this had taken place, estimating that it was in 2000 or 2001.
H5 and Gibril Massaquoi met in Vahun. He was a part of a delegation on its way to meet with Charles Taylor with Mike Lamin, Morris Kallon, and others. They came from Sierra Leone and met in Vahun. The delegation continued on his vehicle. They left from Vahun towards Kumbohun and Monrovia through the logging company. They were ambushed in Kumbohun and could not get to Monrovia. H5 had heard from somewhere that Taylor was trying to destroy evidence against him, it would not be wise to go to Monrovia as Superman had been already killed. The witness confirmed that he had met Gibril Massaquoi two days after Superman’s death at the White Flower. This was before they met in Vahun. It was possible that he met Gibril Massaquoi in Vahun in the last six months of 2001.
The witness testified that he was injured in the stomach on the third day of World War I. He was first taken to the president’s house and transported to Harbel hospital. From there, he was transferred to Ghana. At the time, there were Sierra Leoneans in Monrovia. H5 was not in Monrovia during World War II, he was in Ghana receiving treatment. He returned to Monrovia during World War III, he was repairing weapons. He was staying at White Flower, the fighting was taking place in Waterside and Somalia Drive, between the two bridges. H5 saw Sierra Leoneans when he went to the frontlines. He could not estimate how many there were. There were a lot of RUF and Sierra Leoneans. The witness explained that the word aqbah means a strong man, a tough guy. As the RUF called themselves that, the Liberians adopted the word and started calling them aqbah. There was no specific independent RUF unit in Monrovia at the time, they were spread out all over the government forces. Christopher Varmo was the original Mosquito, he was in Monrovia during the World Wars.
H5 travelled to Ghana by plane. During the World Wars, it was possible to reach certain areas in Lofa by air. LURD had conquered the whole of Lofa, so government helicopters could not really land there.
The witness was moved back to Sierra Leone by the Special Court. He was a witness for them, he was placed in a protected safe house in Freetown. H5 explained the security arrangements of the safehouse. He was supposed to let them know when he was going somewhere, but sometimes he went out without telling them. He was checked on and given things that he asked for, and he was left alone. He had also visited other safe houses, they all seemed the same to him. He was not aware of the details of the security arrangements. H5 was a high-level witness.
Further questions from the defense
H5 confirmed that he saw Gibril Massaquoi in Liberia at White Flower two days after Superman’s death. They met in Vahun after this, he was there with Morris Kallon and Mike Lamin. After the RUF representatives were asked to vacate the guest house in Monrovia, Defense 09 stayed nearby. He lived close to the safe house and later in Red Light. The witness had not heard of Gibril Massaquoi being arrested in Liberia. When Sam Bockarie went to Liberia, he took his own troops with him, he had bodyguards such as Salami Kabbah. They were merged into different units of the Liberian troops. Taylor did not want anyone to know that there was an RUF unit in Liberia.
The witness repeated that he was an important witness for the Special Court. After his testimony, he stayed in Sierra Leone and went to France in 2015. After his testimony, he continued visiting the Special Court and got help with things, sometimes financially. He could send emails to the Netherlands if he needed help. Between 2008 and 2015 in Sierra Leone, he did not have any guards with him, he just had the phone number of a policeman working at the Special Court.
H5 had been in contact with Alain Werner and other lawyers before the present trial. When he saw the case online and that Gibril Massaquoi was accused of crimes in Liberia in 2002 and 2003, he was shocked. He sent messages about the case to Alain and Background 1 saying that he could help them to understand what had happened. He was also contacted by journalists from different countries. Nobody had pressured him or given him any financial incentives, he just wanted to get on with his life. He had sent a message from German journalist Johannes Böhme to Alain Werner and they spoke about it. The defense referred to H5’s police interview, where he had mentioned that Werner wanted him to stay out of the case and asked him to meet in Paris. H5 declined to comment.
Further questions from the prosecution
H5 had a code name when he testified in Special Court. He stated that he was shocked and upset that the testimony that he made at the Special Court had ended up being used in the present case.
Witness Z3’s recording from lower court is listened to
The court briefly listened to one question from Z3’s lower court hearing to clarify the content of his testimony.
