March 6, 2023 [Liberia] Day 25: A former soldier testifies
Soldier 50
The prosecution questions Soldier 50
The prosecution began the hearing by asking the witness if he had partaken in the fighting during the war. Soldier 50 explains that he was part of the GOL troops, but he did not occupy any officer position. He was assigned as security to the mansion, but he also went to Foya, and Lofa. When there, his commanders were ZigZag Marzah and Bush Commando, but the higher-ranking officer was General Stanley.
When he was in Lofa, fighting against LURD had been going on around the border, in Vahun, Foya and other towns he could not remember the names of. He also couldn’t tell precisely what years the fighting took place, 2000, or 2002.
Soldier 50 shared that the GOL troops were fighting alongside RUF, as LURD troops were difficult to fight back and RUF came to support them. The witness was part of a welcome committee that took RUF soldiers from the border to Monrovia, where they resided at 12 Houses.
RUF fought alongside GOL in villages in Lofa, and once LURD had been cleared out they left to go back to Sierra Leone. The RUF commander at the time as Foday Sankoh, and when he died, the chain of command when tot Sam Bockarie aka General Mosquito. Soldier 50 also shared that he knew of Gibril Massaquoi, who was RUF spokesperson, Salami, and Superman, who died and was “one of the men Liberians really depended on” as he was Liberian but living in Sierra Leone.
The witness specified that Massaquoi was the most educated man amongst them, and that he played a major role in the RUF. Soldier 50 had met him in Lofa, in Foya, Vahun, and Kamatahun.
When asked by the prosecution, the witness shared that “there was war going on” and that “civilians cannot be treated right”. Soldier 50 recounted how he had heard that Massaquoi had killed his girlfriend, as another soldier had fell in love with her. He explained that Gibril Massaquoi’s operation name was “Angel Gabriel”.
Soldier 50 explained that when he was assigned in Kamatahun, people were burned alive in a house as they were accused of being rebels. Angel Gabriel had been left in command, as the other commanding officers had gone on patrol. He reiterated that he had been there: he was standing at the checkpoint when he saw the fire blazing. When he came to the scene, he saw people trying to put the fire off, and that they kept on saying there was people tied up inside the house. In the witness’ mind, these things should not happen as it wasn’t the frontline, but a friend of his warned him that if he had said something to the authority, the “man will do something to me”. He was there on the scene until the house burned to the ground, but Angel Gabriel was not on the scene, but he had given the order. He knew Angel Gabriel was in Kamatahun because he would have known if people left.
Going back to escorting RUF troops to Monrovia, Soldier 50 confirmed that he saw Gibril Massaquoi amongst them. At the time, there was no fighting ongoing in the city, and almost a year after their arrival fighting ensued. Nobody knew that RUF troops had been in Monrovia prior to the fighting of World War I. LURD had captured Freeport, and Vai Town. The witness took part of the fighting at Waterside, where he saw Gibril Massaquoi. Soldier 50 was with a team of around 7 men when a slipper shop had been looted, and that RUF troops had open fire on the looters. He saw dead bodies. The witness said that Gibril Massaquoi, Stanley, and Salami were the operating officers – if they had been from Liberia, they would have had more sympathy for Liberians. He was told by a friend that it was they who had carried out the killing. Soldier 50 stated that the looting happened a few months before the cease fire.
Soldier 50 explained which route RUF soldiers took to go to Lofa, but he couldn’t exactly remember the date, but said around 2001. He explained where Kamatahun was, and where exactly the burned house had been. He had not witnessed any other similar incidents. He reiterated that Angel Gabriel had not been on patrol, but he had been the commander left in charge that day. He knew because he was a soldier, not a civilian, and was aware of which commanders had been on patrol and who was left on the ground.
He remembered being interviewed by the Finnish police in 2020, and he had heard on the BBC that someone had been arrested in Finland for the incident in Waterside. He had not seen pictures of the person who was arrested, but he knew him in person and he knew he was in Finland, so it did not come as a surprise to him.
The defense questions Soldier 50
The defense started questioning Soldier 50 regarding his knowledge of Gibril Massaquoi’s presence in Finland. The witness explained that he had moved there after “the case in Sierra Leone” – he learned about it in 2012 or 2013 – he had not been following the court’s work. He had heard the news in a coffee shop but had the confirmation at his sister’s funeral in 2019.
Regarding Gibril Massaquoi’s operation name, Soldier 50 explained that in war people don’t use their real names: he himself also used a war name, so that people would not find out their real name. “Some people play dirty games during the war: some people I have done things to them, I have forgotten, but those people I wronged have not forgotten.”
The defense asked Soldier 50 about his earlier statement regarding Angel Gabriel killing his girlfriend, and why he had not shared this with the police or during the hearings at the lower court. The witness said that so many years had passed and things could slip out of his mind, and because he remembered during the current hearings, she shared it with the Appeals Court.
On the incident in Kamatahun, where the house had been burned down, the defense asked the witness why he had said to the prosecution that it had been the only incident of that nature he had witnessed, if during the police interview in 2020 he had said that he saw ZigZag burning a house with people in it, and then Gibril did the same. Soldier 50 responded that the issue at hand was Angel Gabriel, not ZigZag, and that ZigZag was “the worst” and that he committed a lot of crimes, not only in Kamatahun.
According to the police statement Soldier 50 gave in 2020, only men, suspected of being rebels, had been burned in the kitchen set on fire in Kamatahun, but during these hearings, Soldier 50 had said that both men and women had been present in the building. The witness said that he had not been present, and that he was told that both men and women where inside the house. He had told the police it was only men because they had been accused of being rebels, and women usually were not killed – except in crossfire – but raped.
He had been at the checkpoint in Kamatahun when he heard people screaming. The defense told the witness that during his recorded interview, Soldier 50 had said he had been in Vahun when he heard the news that Gibril had given the order to burn the house. The witness explained that he was supposed to be in Vahun, but that because LURD had been attacking, he stayed in Kamatahun. He had been on his way to the highway when he heard the news of Gibril giving the order, which, he confirmed, was relayed to him by other soldiers. The defense however said that during the police interview, Soldier 50 had said that he had heard himself Gibril Massaquoi giving the order: the witness explained that soldiers cannot be everywhere, and that when orders are passed around amongst soldiers, you will say “yes I was there, but in reality, I was not there”. You do not lie about orders; it was a punishable offense.
The other higher-ranking officers came back to Kamatahun the following day. According to Soldier 50, they were angry about what had happened. And because of the burned house incident, RUF troops were then shortly moved back to Monrovia. During the lower court hearings, Soldier 50 had said that the RUF troops had been ordered to leave later the same evening, as the higher-ranking officers were really angry. The witness explained that one thing was a set military order, and another was a preparatory order. When Gibril Massaquoi arrived in Monrovia, there was no fighting going on there, only in Lofa. It took some time for the war to break out in the city as well, but he could not estimate how long. The witness said that Sam Bockarie was a live when the incident took place in Kamatahun. To the police, Soldier 50 had said that the time span between the burned house and the looting incident was about 5 months.
Soldier 50 said that in his opinion, Gibril Massaquoi spoke English or creole, but he was not aware if he spoke any other languages as he did not know his ethnicity; he knew that he was from Sierra Leone. He had learned Massaquoi’s real name when he brought RUF troops to 12 Houses.
The police had contacted him through an organization working on the case, as they had sent people in Lofa to do an investigation. He had heard on the BBC about the case, and a man was looking for people who had information and who had been present during the incidents. He did not know the man’s first name, but his surname was Employee’s 1 surname. They exchanged phone numbers, and then met in Monrovia. Soldier 50 explained that Employee 1 had not discussed anything regarding the case. Following further questions about whether or not Employee 1 had known him, the witness explained that he knew that he had been an ATU soldier. According to the police, Soldier 50 had said that he had been contacted through his cousin. The witness explained that he later realized, through talking with Employee 1, that their mothers were related. Soldier 50 had been put in touch with Employee 1 through a friend of his, who knew about his past. He clarified that his friend and himself are not related and that he had said he was his “cousin” because they spoke the same dialect.
Soldier 50 already knew what the police wanted to discuss, in relation to the war in Lofa and Gibril. According to him, Employee 1 had told him about this once he had arrived in Monrovia, that the police will want to know about the RUF. This, alongside the news, made the witness aware of what the police wanted to discuss. Soldier 50 explained that Employee 1 never specifically told him anything about what happened in Lofa, but only asked him if he was willing to talk to the police as Gibril was arrested in Finland: Employee 1 did not need to say that Gibril was Massaquoi, because Soldier 50 knew that Gibril was Massaquoi.
