March 13, 2023 [Liberia] Day 29: An ex-government soldier testifieshttps://civitas-maxima.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/GM-day-28.mp3
Witness Soldier 37 is heard
The prosecution questions Soldier 37
The prosecution began by asking Soldier 37 about his participation in the Second Liberian civil war. The witness responded that he participated in the conflict on the government’s side. He was initially stationed in Voinjama. As the war escalated, there were no assigned areas because they were fighting all over Lofa county. After the beginning of the war, there were Sierra Leonean troops, the RUF, who came over to the government’s side. The witness named Sam Bockarie and Superman as two of the bosses, stating that there were many bosses at the time. When asked how civilians were treated during the war, the witness responded: “If I get to explain how the civilians were treated during the war, we will not leave here today”. He explained that villages were burned, people were killed and a lot of things happened.
The witness testified that they were fighting against LURD. He did not know how the LURD rebels were treating civilians, he only knew about the troops on his own side. Soldier 37 stated that some government troops, such as Zigzag Marzah and Superman, were wicked. For example, Zigzag killed civilians that he suspected to be supporting LURD, in places such as Masambolahun, Kolahun and Foya. The witness confirmed that he witnessed such events himself. He testified that, towards the end of the year, some things also happened in Kamatahun. He could not tell whether Kamatahun had another name attached to it, but it was close to Sevelahun and Vahun. He and others were at the frontline near Kamatahun and in the evening, when they got back to the village, they heard that the RUF had killed people there. They were told that one of the commanders, the spokesman, Angel, Gibril Massaquoi, had done it. Angel and Gibril Massaquoi are the same person. He had ordered to kill people. The killings brought confusion, as Sierra Leoneans had killed Liberians.
Soldier 37 testified that he later found out that people were killed inside a burning house, a Palava Hut house and other buildings. Most of the people that were killed were civilians, mostly women. The witness explained that as they returned from the frontline, they heard that the commander had given an order to kill people and they had been killed once they arrived. This caused a lot of confusion and chaos and some people wanted to kill the commander. The commander was then sent to Vahun. He was not sure whether the people had been killed before the house was set on fire, or whether they were killed by being burned alive inside. The house that was burned was a large house or a base, almost immediately to the left of the village after coming from Kolahun. Soldier 37 heard what had happened from Liberian soldiers who were against such acts.
According to the witness, Gibril Massaquoi was a Sierra Leonean RUF rebel, who came to Liberia in 2001 or 2002. The killing took place in 2002. Soldier 37 had not met Gibril Massaquoi before he heard of these killings in Kamatahun. He had heard the name when Massaquoi came to Liberia, but saw him for the first time in Kamatahun. He had also heard his name before the war in Liberia, when there was a conflict in Freetown. The witness was in Voinjama when he was told that a convoy was coming from Sierra Leone to Liberia to pick them up from the border. Soldier 37 heard the name Gibril Massaquoi and Mosquito at the time. He didn’t see them, but knew they were from the RUF. The witness had heard the names on the radio and saw the convoy himself in late 2001 or in 2002. That was when the RUF joined the government forces in Lofa to help them in the war.
Soldier 37 testified that he had seen the houses that had been burned in Kamatahun. They were made of mud walls with concrete placed on top of them. The house that had served as their HQ was damaged, it had been shot with a rocket launcher and most of the houses in the town were damaged. The witness stated that the house had been burned when he returned from the frontline, but he could not be certain as there was a lot of confusion at the time.
Next, the witness testified about how he had gotten into contact with the Finnish police. He stated that he had not heard any news about someone being arrested in Finland before his police interview. He described how one day, he had been in the same car as Employee 1 and people were talking about the war. Employee 1 asked to speak to Soldier 37 and said that a group of white people were coming to ask about the war and asked if he would be interested to speak about his experiences. The witness agreed, and 4 or 5 months later he was interviewed by the Finnish police. After the interview, he saw on the internet that Gibril Massaquoi had been arrested for war crimes. He read the headline of an article and saw several pictures but did not read the article in detail. Employee 1 did not tell him any details and did not specify what kind of people were coming. Soldier 37 was surprised to find out that they were police officers.
Soldier 37 testified that he had seen Gibril Massaquoi himself in Kamatahun in 2000, when he took a helicopter to HQ in Vahun. He also saw Massaquoi in Kamtahun the evening of the killings. Soldiers has demanded that Gibril Massaquoi be killed after what he had done, so they had called Chief of Staff Benjamin Yeaten, who ordered him to go to HQ in Vahun.
The defense questions Soldier 37
The defense began by asking Soldier 37 whether he knew before his interview that the police wanted to know about Gibril Massaquoi. The witness denied this and stated that he was not told at the beginning of the interview about Massaquoi either. The defense pointed out that according to the pre-trial investigation report, the police had told Soldier 37 during the first minute of the interview that the suspect was a Sierra Leonean called Gibril Massaquoi. Soldier 37 could not recall this.
The defense then asked about the timing between the witness’ meeting with Employee 1 and his police interview, which he estimated to have been four or five months. They pointed out that, at his police interview, he had said that he met Employee 1 three weeks beforehand. Soldier 37 responded that he may have been mistaken. He described how he spoke with Employee 1 at tearooms in car parks in both Gbarnga and Monrovia. During the car ride towards Gbarnga he did not talk about the subject in particular. After they arrived, Employee 1 had said that he was interested in talking with Soldier 37 about his experiences. The witness confirmed that he did not discuss the events of Kamatahun with Employee 1. The police had asked him about Kamatahun, but this was because he had talked to the police about battles in Lofa and in the various places in the region.
Next, Soldier 37 testified further about the RUF retreating and coming to Liberia. He explained that the RUF divided into two and the junta rebelled against Tejan Kabbah in Freetown. ECOMOG then pushed them out of Freetown and the RUF came over the border to Liberia. According to the witness, the RUF members who came to Liberia could not move freely between Sierra Leone and Liberia. Sam Bockarie’s side had come to Liberia and they could not go freely to Freetown anymore. Sam Bockarie was one of the RUF members who came to Liberia, he went to Ivory Coast and launched an attack there. He came with other RUF members, such as Superman. Gibril Massaquoi was an educated man, the secretary or spokesman for the RUF, so didn’t take part in the fighting. When they came to Liberia, the RUF joined the government forces.
The witness testified that Sam Bockarie’s movements in Liberia and Ivory Coast were not a secret. Soldier 37 did not see the group that Sam Bockarie came with, he only was involved with the RUF in Lofa. According to Soldier 37, Gibril Massaquoi was also in Monrovia, he spent some time there, and went to and from the frontline. He clarified that when the RUF first came to Lofa, Gibril Massaquoi did not go to the frontline. In 2001, 2002, when the war was escalating, he began going to the frontline in Lofa more often. Massaquoi was most active on the frontline in early 2002. He was an RUF commander in Lofa, “not an ordinary man”. He was in command of RUF troops at the time. Next, a statement that the witness had made during his lower court hearing was discussed in the court, as to whether ‘Angel’ had been involved with the RUF or not. The witness stated that he must have not been understood correctly at the lower court, and maintained that he was the commander of the RUF and its third highest ranking member. According to the witnesss, the RUF was called militia in Lofa and they had a yellow shirt as uniform. The militia was a mixture of Sierra Leoneans and Liberians.
Soldier 37 testified that Charles Taylor, as the head of ECOWAS, used it to trick the international community to get the RUF over the border to Liberia. The RUF had gold and diamonds that they were bringing to Charles Taylor. Taylor was negotiating with every party and was trying to get the war in Sierra Leone to end so that the RUF could return to Freetown.
The witness did not know what happened to Gibril Massaquoi after he’d gotten in trouble in Lofa. He could not say whether Massaquoi was able to go to Freetown after he had come to Liberia. He speculated that he may have done so for the negotiations.
It was pointed out that the witness identified the defendant as Angel Gabriel from the series of photographs presented to him at his police interview.
A mix up with witnesses
The afternoon session was intended to hold the hearing of Soldier 12. A person with the same name as Soldier 12, who had also been interviewed by the Finnish police, came to testify. During his testimony, it was revealed that this person was not Soldier 12. The hearing was therefore cancelled.