ECOWAS Court Postpones Historic Hearing of Lutheran Church Massacre Case After Liberian Gov. Asked for More Time To “Prepare”
By Anthony StephensMay 31, 2024CRIME WATCH No Comments6 Mins Read
MONROVIA – A historic trial between survivors of the infamous St. Peter’s Church massacre and the Liberian government at the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in Abuja, Nigeria, has again been postponed after the Liberian government asked for more time to prepare for the case. This is third the time that the case has been postponed on the government’s request, with Thursday’s adjournment coming after previous ones in November 2022 and the other in January 2023. Due to its late response to the allegations of survivors through their lawyers last February, the court granted their request for time to respond the government’s contention against their suit.
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives
As the government faces backlash over the issue, Cllr. Augustine C. Fayiah, Liberia’s new Solicitor General, justified their latest request—telling the court by a virtual hearing that he and other state lawyers on the case had just assumed their duties following changes of personnel at the Justice Ministry by President Joseph Boakai. Cllr. Fayiah said they had not familiarized themselves with the case.
“We inherited the case just about two days ago,” said Cllr. Fayiah, flanked by Cllrs. J. Adolphus D. Karnuah and Joel E. Theoway, the other new government lawyers on the case. “And so, we thought that we make submission to read the case file, familiarize ourselves with the facts and then the circumstances of taking the case, so that we can be prepared to appear before your honors.”
But Natalie Reid, the lead lawyer in the case for the four massacre victims who mounted the legal challenge against the government, objected to the government’s request.
“The Republic has had quite a lot of time to prepare their oral submission to the court,” said Reid. “This hearing had in fact been rescheduled for more than once. That, honorable counsel for respondent had in fact been appointed quite a few months ago. So, for all these reasons, applicants will not consent to the request for adjournment.”
However, Justice Edward Amoako Asate, President of the court overruled Reid’s objection.
“As much as we agree with you that your clients have waited for long and the file has been waiting in the offices of the Attorney General’s department, the reason given which is mostly regular in legal circles, once a new counsel takes over a matter, it’s only fair that the person be given the chance to at least read the file and come and make submissions,” said President Asate. “So, we are disposed to grant the request and we are adjourning the matter to the 2nd of July for hearing.”
Adama Dempster, a pro-justice advocate criticized the Liberian government over its unpreparedness.
“I think these postponements show government of Liberia unreadiness to respond to war crimes related cases outside of Liberia.”
This is the first time that a Liberian government has been sued over human rights abuses during any of the two country’s two civil wars which took place between 1989-2003. The suit is also the first against the government in relation to the massacre, during which more than 600 people, including men, women and babies were shot and hacked to death with machetes 34 years ago— brutal killings that claimed the world’s attention.
Only one person has so far been held to account for the killings— Moses Thomas— a former commander for the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit (SATU), though he was held civilly liable and
for the massacre in 2022 by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and orderd to pay “$US84 million”, a judgement he has since unsuprisingly questioned. SATU was loyal to Samuel Doe, the Liberian President at the time, who was being battled from office by forces of Charles Taylor, an ex-rebel leader who became president himself. Troops from Satu and the Armed Forces of Liberia were accused of committing the mass killings because they claimed the civilians, mainly of the Mano and Gio ethnic groups, who were being housed in the church, a Red Cross shelter, supported Taylor and his forces. Moses Wright, a former Brigadier General of the army and widely considered by many as one of the most important figures in Liberia at the time, is accused of leading the soldiers that day. He is due to be tried for perjury and federal immigration fruad later this year after U.S. prosecuors said he lied about witnessing or odering his troops to commit human rights violations.
The Lutheran church massacre survivors and victims are represented in the case at the ECOWAS Court by U.S. justice advocates, Center for Justice and Accountability, and the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA), the U.S. law firm, Debevoise & Plimpton and Liberian based the Global Justice and Research Project and the San Francisco, U.S. based
Reid had earlier told the court that the victims had waited long for justice. She accused the government of dereliction of its duty by failing to ensure the investigation and prosecution of perpetrators of the massacre.
“The victims, survivors and families of the Lutheran church massacre, in which over 600 civilians were tortured and murdered while seeking refuge at a Red Cross shelter, deserve justice,” said Reid. “We are here today because for nearly 34 years, the Republic of Liberia has failed to live up to its obligations under international law to investigate one of the worst atrocities committed in the country’s civil war, prosecute the perpetrators and provide redress to victims.”
The hearing of the case came at the time that president Boakai, acting on the instructions of the legislature, issued an executive order to establish an office for war and economic crimes courts. A search has begun for the head of the office, with presidential secretary, Kula Fofana telling Okay FM last week that work was “happening behind the scenes” and that the president would soon act on the matter. And experts say the timing of the Lutheran church massacre trial has some huge significance, as it comes at a time when the Liberian nation has been marching towards justice. Experts expect the bloody incident to be among the brutal murders a war crimes court will hear.
“This case is no different from the other war related crimes cases that are being considered for prosecution if the war crimes court is established in Liberia,” said Dempster, also a lead campaigner for the Coalition for Establishment of War and Economic Crimes Court in Liberia. “Given the current efforts to establish a war crimes court to hear war related crimes cases it would be considered to handle these cases rather than using much energy at the ECOWAS court.”
Dempster called on president Boakai to quickly set up the office because according to him, a lot still needed to be done.
“There’s much work to be done to roll out the process leading to the establishment of the court.”
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