June 21, 2023 [Finland] Day 56: Last witness before summer break
Witness Z3 is heard
Z3 was heard via video link from the United Kingdom.
The prosecution questions Z3
The prosecution began by asking Z3 about his employment with the Special Court for Sierra Leone. The witness testified that he had worked for the Special Court from August 2004 until May 2010. He worked in witness protection: he guarded the witnesses, their family and their movements and looked after their welfare. When he began working at the Special Court, Gibril Massaquoi was involved in the witness protection program. Z3 met him in 2004 in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Before that, they had met in Liberia in 1997. In 2004, they met in a safe house in Kington. The witness was assigned to protect him. From Kington, he moved to a safe house near the stadium, near Congo Cross bridge. Z3 also worked there to protect him.
The witness testified that he saw Gibril Massaquoi every week from 2004 onwards. He had different shifts every day, during some weeks he saw him only once a week, while during others he saw him twice a week. Sometimes, the witness was ordered to take Gibril Massaquoi anywhere he wanted to go in Freetown and he would drive him around. Z3 explained that the security arrangements in some of the safe houses run by the Special Court was inadequate. The safe house was attacked once in Kington, putting the security guards in danger. He clarified that some safe houses were not fenced, there was no surveillance equipment, people could walk in freely. Some houses had several entrances. Gibril Massaquoi lived in the safe houses with his wife and children, three in total. His brother also lived there and there were a lot of guests coming in at any point in time, Gibril Massaquoi’s friends and family came to visit him. The guards could not ask the guests to leave and they could enter the safe house freely with no prior notice or request.
The safe houses Gibril Massaquoi was placed in were on Aberdeen Road, Jomo Kenyatta Road, Kington, Congo Cross. He left in 2007. Z3 added that he did not often see Gibril Massaquoi in the safe house while he was working there; he was told that he was studying or sleeping by his wife or children. Z3 would sometimes hand over the shift to the next guard without seeing him at all and sometimes the next guard wouldn’t see him either. The guests that would come to the gate at any time would ask to see Mr Massaquoi and the guards had no right to refuse, they usually let them in. The guards were familiar with most of the guests as they visited frequently. Z3 noted the visits down. The visitors were mostly Massaquoi’s friends and relatives, some were former fighters.
Z3 testified that there was always a security guard and an armed policeman at the gate. When he started working at the Special Court, he was working at seven to ten different safe houses. He could not remember how many guards were working at these houses, but not every safe house had security guards. The guards at Gibril Massaquoi’s safe house were always armed. When Z3 began at the safe house, the security arrangements were the same as before he had started. The first safe house on Aberdeen Road was not very secure, so Gibril Massaquoi was relocated. Every time something happened, he was relocated. As he was a high-profile witness, he needed good protection. Not every witness was protected by armed police or security guards. The safe house on Aberdeen Road was not very secure due to its location and environment. When the attack took place in Kington, Gibril Massaquoi did not have policemen guarding him. They came to the safe house only when he was relocated from Kington to Congo Cross, near the stadium.
The witness further testified that he would be called from the office by his supervisor to take Gibrl Massaquoi anywhere he wanted to go in Freetown. He would go about his business, do what he wanted to do, Z3 would stay in the car and then take him back to the safe house. One place Z3 could remember was on Bathurst Street, near Pademba Street. It was a place founded originally by RUF rebels, Massaquoi used to go there. He also went to see one of his girlfriends at night in the Kissy District.
Z3 testified that it would have been possible for Gibril Massaquoi to leave the safe house without anyone noticing. In addition to the main entrance, there was an exit at the back of the building. There were instances when the witness did not see Massaquoi during his shift. He complained about this to his colleagues, he was told that he was sleeping or studying. It was possible to travel between Sierra Leone and Liberia in one day as long as the transport was arranged beforehand. He knew this because in 1990, during the Liberian civil war, he had travelled with 8 missionaries. He had left Liberia one evening and arrived in Freetown the next day. The house did not have any security cameras. He speculated that Massaquoi could have been absent from the safe house for long periods of time, as he was not seen every day and his presence could not be verified. Massaquoi could have been absent from the safe house at least for two days, maybe longer. Massaquoi was capable of planning this, Z3 knows him. They first met in Liberia during the war, when the NPFL captured Z3. The second time they met was in Sierra Leone. He testified: “Based on my conversations with him, I know he could talk his way out of any crime. When you go from Sierra Leone to Liberia, you don’t necessarily go straight from Freetown to Monrovia. You can go to a village or to the border. It is easy, very easy”.
The witness testified that all the safe houses had more than one entrance and they could be left from the back as well. The fences around the houses could be climbed. He gave the attack on Kington as an example, the attackers had climbed over the fence, it was easy. Nobody watched the back gate and there were no cameras. He had complained about it to his colleagues and to his supervisors, who he named, but nothing was done about it. Z3 knew Saleem Vahidy, he was the head of the WVS. He did not think that Saleem Vahidy was aware of the fact that guards would change shifts with only a verbal confirmation from Gibril Massaquoi’s family that he was sleeping. The official instructions required that the guard coming to the shift would see the witness, but this did not occur in practice.
Z3 testified that Gibril Massaquoi was very nice and friendly towards the guards and described them as “close friends.” He also clarified the ‘alleged’ attack in Kington, Gibril Massaquoi had been planning it as a way to prove his innocence. He had planned the attack with people outside the safe house, they would come and attack the safe house so that he could show that his life was in danger and be moved to another place. He speculated that if the attack had not been planned, the security guard on shift would have been killed. The attackers came to the yard and Gibril Massaquoi climbed over the fence and ran away. He knew that the attack was coming and was ready to climb over the fence. Z3 found out about the attack from the guard on duty. They all rushed to the house to secure the area. More guards were added for the night and he was relocated the next day. All the guards knew that he had planned the attack. The incident was investigated, but it did not lead to anything besides him being relocated “because he was a high-profile person and they needed him.”
According to the witness, the security arrangements differed between different witnesses. Some witnesses had no security at all, some had many. Some had a close protection officer, but no policemen securing the house. Gibril Massaquoi’s situation was different due to his background, he needed the highest level of security possible. He was in danger because of the atrocities he had committed, such as ritual killings and opening people’s stomachs. Stories about these acts are still going around in Liberia and people know that he committed them, he was trying to hide from what he did.
Z3 knew Y9, he was in Liberia during the war. He had not met him in Sierra Leone. It would have been possible for Gibril Massaquoi to leave the safe house in 2003 without a guard. This was based on his understanding of the security arrangements in the 2003 safe house. He had not personally seen Massaquoi leave the safe house unattended. Sometimes a guard would fall asleep at their post, leaving the high-profile witness able to leave unnoticed. Z3 and his colleague had both fallen asleep once with another witness, and he had left the safe house. One policeman had also fallen asleep and had his gun stolen. Z3 could not recall him or any of his colleagues reporting Massaquoi missing or being absent from the safe house. Should they have encountered this, they had instructions to report it to the office.
The defense questions Z3
The defense began by asking if Z3 knew when Gibril Massaquoi was placed in the first safe house. The witness testified that he did not know. The first safe house was located on Aberdeen Road, near the Aberdeen Beach in Freetown. He had learned the location of the safe house from one of his colleagues from the Special Court. The first safe house had more than one gate. He could not remember who had told him this, but he had been shown the house when he began working for the Special Court in 2004. The defense pointed out that Z3 had testified in the lower court that he had not worked at the Special Court during the first two safe houses Gibril Massaquoi was placed in and that he was not aware of their security arrangements. He had also testified that he had not been to the first two safe houses. The witness responded that he had meant that he had not been assigned to work in these two safe houses. He was aware of their locations, and he had lived next to the second one.
Z3 testified that the guards could check the guests when they arrived. The final decision on whether to allow them in or not was with the permission of the high-profile witness. The guards did not always have prior notice of a guest’s visit. Sometimes, Gibril’s wife or children would come and tell the guards that the guest could come in. The guests spent different amounts of time at the safe house, some spent the night. The visits were recorded in a logbook. Z3 could not name any of the ex-fighters that came to visit Gibril, he did not know them as they were not in the same unit during the war. They did not record the visitor’s names, just the amount of people visiting. Gibril’s brother was also an ex-fighter, Z3 gave his nickname to the court. He is currently in Finland with Gibril. The defense pointed out that the witness had testified in the lower court that he did not know how many witnesses the Special Court was protecting in total when Massaquoi had been placed in the safe house. He had also testified that he did not know anything about the entrances and exits of Massaquoi’s first safe house. The witness replied that he could not remember saying so.
The witness testified that the logbook was used to mark down shift changes, to note down when visitors came by, and to note when the high-profile witness left the safe house or returned, when he was sent for by the office. When a guard came to relieve another guard from duty, it was written down in the logbook. When the shift was being handed over, the situation at the safe house was checked. It was not written in the logbook, the guards just discussed it between themselves. Despite the instructions being to check on the witness, the guards did not always see the witness or check his whereabouts.
Z3 could not remember when he started working at Gibril Massaquoi’s safe house. He was doing both night and day shifts and estimated that one shift lasted for 12 hours. He could not always tell which guard would come on duty next. He could not tell how many times he was told that Massaquoi was sleeping or studying, but this occurred several times. There were several times where he didn’t see him. If Massaquoi was picked up by someone, Z3 was notified by the office that he would be picked up shortly before. The guard coming to pick him up would notify the guards on duty that he was on his way to pick up the witness. He then clarified that this notification did not come beforehand; the driver would mention it when he arrived at the safe house to pick up the witness. Z3 was not aware of Massaquoi not being present when a guard was coming to pick him up, this never happened when he was on duty. He could not remember how many times Massaquoi was picked up for meetings during his shifts, but it happened several times. Z3 had not driven Massaquoi’s family members himself, he had not seen it happen during his shifts. He speculated that the children were driven to school when they enrolled, but this didn’t happen very often.
Massaquoi received an allowance, it was paid in cash. Sometimes the money was given to his wife if he was sleeping. His wife could sign for the money as well. When Gibril was present, he had to personally sign for the money. The defense pointed out that Z3 had testified in the lower court that he was aware of money being given to witnesses, but not whether they had signed for it or not. He replied that either the high-profile witness or his wife signed for the money.
Z3 testified that it was the responsibility of the guard on duty to notify his supervisor if the witness was not in the safe house. The guard on duty was responsible for the witness during his shift. Massaquoi used the allowance for food and for taking care of his family. He was not aware of Massaquoi giving money to his relatives to support them. The Special Court was responsible for the education of the children, medical care and renovations and repairs at the safe house. The money given to Massaquoi was for himself and his family, he could spend it as he wanted. The furthest Z3 had taken Massaquoi was on Kissy Road, they had not been outside Freetown.
The witness confirmed that he was on duty during the shift just before the attack on the safe house. He didn’t notice anything that could have been related to the attack. The attack happened at night and he was on the day shift. Z3 based his speculation that Massaquoi had planned the attack on the way it happened. He speculated that if it had truly been planned by outsiders, his colleagues would have been attacked more severely and the witness would have been in danger. The attack was allowed to happen in a certain way, it was conducted so that Massaquoi would be taken seriously and relocated. The safe house was near the worst slum in Sierra Leone and Massaquoi did not like this.
None of the other guards ever told Z3 that Massaquoi left the safe house alone. They discussed the possibility among themselves. The policeman who lost his weapon, Massaquoi was involved in that incident as well. A policeman losing his weapon is a sign of weakness. The security arrangements had many flaws, they all slept on duty there. Massaquoi could have made a plan to stay away from the safe house for more than two days by making a deal with the guards. He could have made an agreement with his family that they would cover for him if somebody came to ask about him. He could have done it on a weekend, when the security was not as tight and the office was closed. Z3 testified that Massaquoi had the money and contacts to do so, he is very intelligent. He could have also left the safe house in Kington. The defense pointed out that the witness had testified in the lower court that it was not possible to leave the safe house in Kington. He replied that it was possible through the back door.
Z3 saw Massaquoi in Liberia in 1997, in Bo Waterside, near the border. He could not recall the exact month that they saw each other.
The witness was contacted by the Finnish police through the British police. When he was in the US, he was contacted and was asked whether he had any information about the present case. He told the police that he knows a lot about this case. A man called Alan had contacted him before the Finnish police. The witness did not know his full name, he knew him as Alan from when he worked at the Special Court. Alan contacted him through WhatsApp. The defense pointed out that Z3 had testified in the lower court that Alan had worked as a lawyer in the Special Court, they had worked together, they had discussed about the Finnish police contacting him. Z3 confirmed this. He had not spoken about Gibril Massaquoi with Alan. Z3 knew H4 and H6, they are married, they all worked together at the Special Court.
Question from the court
Z3 testified that when Massaquoi was picked up from the safe house, he was contacted by his lawyer on his mobile phone.
