March 9, 2023 [Liberia] Day 27: Tributes made in Kamatahun
Civilian 13
Prosecution questions Civilian 13
The witness begun explaining that during the war, he had been in Kamatahun. Around 2001, 2002, he had escaped to the bush because of the fighting, as LURD troops had been attacking, but the government troops had come and brought him back. One day, he saw some soldiers speaking Creole and Mende, captained by General Gabriel. These soldiers had captured some people and put them in jail. On General Gabriel’s order, he saw a house being put to flames, with people in it. He specified that the troops speaking Creole and Mende were RUF troops from Sierra Leone, and he knew that their commander was Gabriel because that’s what the soldiers called him – he did not know if he had any other name besides that. Civilian 13 said that the house that was set on fire was only a house away from his, and he heard Gabriel giving the order to burn it. He could not remember precisely how many people were burned in the house – and it had not been Gabriel himself who set the house on fire, but it had been him giving the order to his troops. He specified that the house that burned was on the left when facing Vahun.
The witness shared that a lot of atrocities happened in Kamatahun, and that government troops carried them as well. Women were raped, but he had ran to the bush, so he had only saw the house being set on fire.
He couldn’t estimate how long the RUF troops had been there for, but from the beginning of 2001 to 2002.
The defense questions Civilian 13
The witness could not remember how old he was at the time of the events, but he could estimate he was around 38 years of age as he gave this testimony.
He said that the government troops leader had been Stanley, and that Zigzag had been there too, and he had done really “bad things there”. When asked to elaborate, the witness shared that Zigzag used to capture people, kill them, cook them, and eat them. He had seen so himself, including a woman who was asked to cook a human heart. He said that Zigzag used to “love the people that was light skinned” – he did not know the names of the victims of Zigzag, and he could not remember exactly when he had killed people. LURD had come and retreated already, when he saw Zigzag eating someone. Zigzag had not been there when Civilian 13 had witnessed the house burning down with people inside. The witness had heard of other houses being burned down, besides the one he had saw himself.
Asking how he got contacted by the Finnish police, Civilian 13 said that someone had visited the Town Chief, who then contacted him. The Finnish police came after a long while that the Town Chief was contacted. The witness shared that he didn’t talk about the war to anyone, as he is still scared – the Town Chief explained that police was coming to interview him about the war. Civilian 47 is a friend of Civilian 13, and he had also spoken with the police, but he had not known, because the police had not even spent the night in Kamatahun, as they were really fast. The defense told him that whilst he had been interviewed on November 28, Civilian 47 had been interviewed the day prior. The witness said that he didn’t know about Civilian 47’s interview, as he had not been there.
After the war, the witness stayed in Kamatahun as it is “my home that is where I was born, so I cannot go”.
The defense asked the witness if he remembered an NGO coming to Kamatahun and putting a memorial plate where the house was burned down. Civilian 13 responded in the affirmative, but that they had not come to question the villagers.
During the war, he had seen Gabriel until he had been in Kamatahun: Gabriel came and went to go on the battlefront, but then came back. He could not estimate for how long he saw him, but when the witness escaped Kamatahun, Gabriel was still there.
Prosecution questions the witness again
The witness stated that he remembered seeing women’s bodies – some of them “dried” – they had buried them. The witness did not know how they were killed. They had buried them behind the blacksmith’s kitchen, but he could not say how they were killed, and he only helped burying the bodies. He added that other people that will testify will know how they were killed, but he didn’t.
Civilian 14
Prosecution questions the witness
Civilian 14 began his testimony by sharing that he is from Kamatahun, and that a lot of fighting happened between LURD forces and government troops. The witness escaped to a nearby town, but the government troops brought them back to Kamatahun. There, there was also RUF troops, with some commanders being Angel Gabriel and Mosquito.
The witness recounted how one day they were all round up in the center of town and soldiers took some people and put them in a house and burn it. He also recounted how he saw some women being raped and killed, and another woman murdered. The witness escaped to LURD controlled area, where, according to him, there weren’t the same atrocities being committed.
About Angel Gabriel, the witness said he had learned his name because he always used to announce it before giving orders and said that “I am next to God, when I give order only God can stop it”; the witness had heard this himself several times. He added that Angel Gabriel spoke Creole.
The witness said he was staying at a woman’s place in Kamatahun, and that this woman, [REDACTED] used to be with Angel Gabriel, before he killed her. When the civilians were rounded up in the center of town, to be placed in the house that was set on fire, [REDACTED] had held the witness’ hand, as she did not want him to be put in the house. According to Civilian 14, that was the only reason why he was spared. He did not know why the civilians were burned, and he said that it was Angel Gabriel who had given the order. He shared that the house were the people were burned was near the town hall, and that he saw this happening with his own eyes and heard himself Angel Gabriel giving the order.
Civilian 14 recounted how women were raped and killed in a blacksmith’s kitchen. Angel Gabriel gave the order, although he did not rape nor killed the women himself, and left after giving the order. The witness said he saw the women’s bodies, and some of them were tied up. He did not know how they were killed, but he guessed it might have been with knives, as he did not hear any gun shots. He could not even recall exactly how many bodies he saw, just that there were many, 7, 12, maybe more. He had not seen them being raped, but he had heard Angel Gabriel giving the order. He could hear the women crying.
[REDACTED], who had been Angel Gabriel’s “wife” had been killed in Yandahun, and was stabbed to death by Angel Gabriel himself. According to the witness, [REDACTED] had been killed the same day they had all reached Yandahun, on a football field. He had been carrying Angel Gabriel’s bag, and had been walking with them, so he was not too far away when [REDACTED] had been murdered.
About the house that was set on fire, did not know how many people were burned, but he said there were many, around 50, both men and women, all from different villages collected by soldiers. The house that was burned down was as you entered Kamatahun on the left.
According to the witness, Angel Gabriel was also called Angel Michael. He knew that because he had heard his soldiers calling him that. He spoke Creole.
Defense questions the witness
The witness remembered that the commanders of the government troops were Stanley and Zigzag. He said they were dressed in white sandals, so people could recognize them in battle and not kill them.
Back to the burning house incident, Civilian 14 explained that because [REDACTED] was Angel Gabriel’s wife, her holding his hand meant that the soldiers were not supposed to harm him, and that’s how he was spared from burning. But she had not said anything to the soldiers.
According to the police report from 2019, the witness had said that [REDACTED] had spoken on his behalf, and this is why he had been spared. Civilian 14 explained that holding his hand was the gesture she did, so she had communicated with the soldiers that he was not supposed to be taken.
He could not remember exactly how much time passed between the burning of the house and the raping of the women, maybe closer to a week than a month. He believed it happened somewhere between 2001 and 2002, but couldn’t remember the month, in the dry season.
On the matter of how the Finnish police got in touch with him, the witness said that one day the Town Chief let him know that someone people wanted to ask him questions about the war, and about 6 months later, the police had come.
Civilian 14 shared how someone from the TRC had come to Kamatahun, and according to the witness they had not come to interview people, but to “put the people together to forget about the past and all the things that happened”.
Civilian 16
Prosecution questions the witness
The witness began by sharing that he holds a political position in Kamatahun since 2005. He recounted that once a senior person called him asking him to take his motorbike to a nearby village, as it had broken down. Once there, Civilian 16 saw government soldiers, who told the witness that LURD had advanced to Kolahun. They all went back to Kamatahun, and the government troops spent the night there. The morning after, Benjamin Yeaten came and ordered people to fix a bridge. So Civilian 16 blew the trumpet and the men in the town gathered and they went to fix the bridge, but LURD troops attacked. Everyone scattered to the bush, and Civilian 16 estimated that he was there for 2 to 3 weeks, until they were called back to return. But soldiers attacked again, so people escaped to Popalahun. When there, they saw more civilians coming, and they met them along the way to see if their family members were among them. It was then that they were stopped by soldiers. A commander came, his name was Gibril Massaquoi, but his fighting name was Angel Gabriel. He accused the civilians of harboring LURD soldiers, so he burned a house with civilians inside – Civilian 16 heard the cries and laments in different languages coming from the house. A man managed to escape the fire, but he was put back, and did not survive.
Bones were leftover, and the inhabitants decided to bury them. Later on, an NGO, LAPS, came, and assisted the villagers in building a palava hut with the bones inside.
Asked by the prosecution, Civilian 16 said that he had gone to Popalahun to repair the bike around 2001/2002. He knew of Gibril Massaquoi’s name because he had introduced himself, and that he himself had said that his fighting name was Angel Gabriel. It had been him who had ordered the burning of the fire, even though he had retreated to his own house when the order was carried out. He couldn’t name who had put the house on fire, as there were too many soldiers. According to the witness, Angel Gabriel spoke Creole, but also spoke English. The house that burned down was on the left, if going to Vahun.
When the house was put on fire, the witness also saw seven women being taken to the headquarters. He had not seen what had happened to the women, but he was sure other witnesses could have shared it with the court.
The defense questions the witness
The witness explained that the government troops didn’t really wear a specific uniform – some of them used to wear camouflage. RUF commanders wore uniforms, but the simple soldiers wore regular clothes. The defense said that when the police questioned the witness, in 2019, he had said that RUF soldiers wore yellow t-shirts.
Civilian 16 saw Angel Gabriel for the first time in Kamatahun, when the house was burned down. Soldiers used to call him “Gibril Massaquoi”. The defense said that in the lower court, Civilian 16 said that it was Angel Gabriel who had been on the scene of the burning house, and the witness responded that he went by both names. He had not seen Angel Gabriel again, after that incident.
About the timing of the incident, the witness had said to the Finnish police that the burning of the house and the raping of the seven women happened in September 2002, the that he had been sure of the year, but not of the month, just that the rice had been planted. The witness answered that “I’m telling you it was 2001-2202. The year of 2000 we were all just running around.”
The witness could not remember when people from the TRC came to the town, but he remembered that it had been Jerome Verdier, and they had showed him what had happened there. When LAPS came, they showed them were people had been burned.
Civilian 16 told the court how Kamatahun had been burned down 2 times.
The Finnish police got in touch with the witness via someone who had travelled to the village to tell him. It had not been Employee 1, who the witness had only met once – during the lower court hearings. The defense said that in Employee 1’s notebook, it had said he had been to Kamatahun a few months before Civilian 16 was interviewed by the Finnish police, but the witness said that he had not been in town back then. The witness said that he knew the two witnesses who testified prior to him.
