KAMATAHUN, Lofa County – The Finnish court assessing war‑crime charges against Gibril Massaquoi, a former commander of Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front, has returned to Liberia for the third time. On Tuesday the court will begin hearings on the Finnish prosecutors’ appeal of last year’s acquittal of Massaquoi by a lower court. In April, the District Court in Tampere found that prosecutors had not proved Massaquoi’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and acquitted him of all charges, including aggravated murder and aggravated rape. In an 850‑page ruling the court said there was “a reasonable doubt” that the 53‑year‑old had committed the crimes and noted inconsistencies in witness testimonies, an issue that has dominated the 15‑month marathon trial. Prosecutors rejected the ruling, and the Turku Appeals Court granted their request for an appeal.
“The trial in the court of appeal is a chance for us to try to overturn the judgment by the district,” said Tom Laitinen, chief prosecutor. “We will do our best and see where that will take us.” The appeal places further scrutiny on the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses. Laitinen admitted that convincing the three‑judge panel will be difficult. “We have a lot of work in front of us,” he wrote on WhatsApp. “It doesn’t frustrate us to hear the witnesses again. This is an opportunity for us to do a better job.” He was cautious about expectations: “The burden is the same as before, but it is always a challenge to convince a higher court that the lower court erred.”
Kimmo Vanne, presiding judge of the Turku Appeals Court, said the proceedings will be open to the public, allowing journalists to photograph the courtroom, except for protected witnesses such as alleged rape victims. Liberia’s Justice Minister Musa Dean has not responded to a request for comment.
The original trial held months‑long hearings in Liberia in 2021, making it the first trial related to Liberia’s civil war to take place on Liberian soil. Although there was speculation that the Liberian government— which had blocked efforts to establish a war‑crimes court—might suppress coverage, the trial proceeded without obvious interference and reporters were given full access. As in the two previous occasions when the court came to Liberia and then to Sierra Leone, Massaquoi is not attending the hearings. Unlike before, he is no longer in detention and will follow the proceedings via video link from the district court of Pirkanmaa in Tampere, according to his lead lawyer Kaarle Gummerus.
A delegation travelled from Monrovia to Lofa on long, rocky dirt roads for onsite inspections. Locals in Kortuhun and Kamatahun witnessed the visits, as did journalists. Judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers and Finnish security personnel spent hours over the weekend traveling to Kamatahun, Kortuhun in Lofa County, and Waterside in Monrovia to see the sites where Massaquoi’s alleged crimes took place. Kortuhun, near the Liberia‑Sierra Leone border, is where prosecutors claim Massaquoi locked civilians in buildings and burned them alive while RUF forces supported Charles Taylor’s troops against rebels from the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy. Prosecutors also allege that Massaquoi, a former RUF spokesman, slipped out of a “safe house” of the UN‑backed Special Court for Sierra Leone to commit the crimes in Liberia. He later became an informant for that court and was key to the conviction of ex‑RUF commanders and Taylor, who is serving a 50‑year sentence in the United Kingdom for aiding and abetting rebels in the Sierra Leonean civil war.
Massaquoi’s lawyers do not deny his presence in Liberia but argue he left for Sierra Leone after hearing that Taylor planned to kill him. He and his family moved to Finland in 2008 under a deal with the Special Court that did not grant him immunity from prosecution for crimes in Liberia. He was arrested in March 2020 after Civitas Maxima, a Swiss‑based justice activist group, and the Global Justice and Research Project, its Liberian partner, presented evidence of his alleged crimes.
Massaquoi’s defense team is confident they can persuade the higher court to uphold the lower‑court acquittal. “We are confident and prepared for a trial,” Gummerus told New Narratives via WhatsApp. “We have some new witnesses in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Europe and also some new documentary evidence. We are not frustrated. We are vigilant.” Defense lawyers Paula Sallinen and Kaarle Gummerus were present during the onsite inspections in Lofa and at Waterside in Monrovia.
The district court had controversially ordered Massaquoi’s release from pre‑trial detention more than two months before acquitting him, to the annoyance of human‑rights activists. Both the defense and the prosecution are withholding details about new witnesses in the appeal. “There might be new witnesses for us too, but I am not sure,” Laitinen said. New Narratives has identified Joseph “Zizar Marzah” as a possible new prosecution witness. Marzah, who refused to testify in the first trial, was a key commander under Taylor. In an exclusive interview he told NN that Massaquoi fought alongside him in Liberia and that the district court erred in acquitting him. During the appeal, the defense sought to exclude Marzah’s evidence. Sallinen accused Marzah of mass killings in Lofa against members of the Gbandi tribe and alleged that Liberian investigators were covering up the crimes. Moses Carter, spokesman for the Liberia National Police, said the allegations are under investigation. Marzah also accused Benjamin Yeaten, former director of Taylor’s Special Security Service, of the killings; Yeaten’s whereabouts are unknown.
This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of its West African Justice Reporting Project. Credit: Premium Times.
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