By Anthony Stephens and New Narratives editors It was Kayla’s birthday. She was putting her baby son into his car seat, her daughter climbing into the back, her fiancé Eriah Nahnie behind the wheel. It was just after 8 in the morning — a routine school run on a cold winter’s day in United States…
A mass escape from a trafficking ring handed prosecutors everything they needed for Liberia’s biggest trafficking conviction. 51 victims say a bribe is about to set their traffickers free By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent and New Narratives editors On a morning last October, more than 50 women and men walked into Paynesville magistrates’ court…
After more than 15 years of investigation, a Belgian appeals court has ruled that Martina Johnson — one of the most powerful commanders in Charles Taylor’s rebel movement — must finally stand trial for alleged atrocities committed during Liberia’s first civil war. Johnson is accused of leading brutal attacks during Operation Octopus, a 1992 assault…
Armed men recently broke into the offices of the Global Justice and Research Project, threatening director Hassan Bility and warning that they “knew where he lived,” in what activists say is the latest attempt to intimidate those pursuing accountability for Liberia’s civil‑war atrocities. The attack, along with fresh threats against witnesses and officials working on…
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Summary: A high court in Belgum ruled on Thursday that Martina Johnson, one of the most powerful women of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front for Liberia, should stand trial for crimes she’s accused of committing during Liberia’s first civil war between 1989 and 1996. The decision by…
By Anthony Stephens, senior justice correspondent with New Narratives Summary: Armed men broke into the offices of the Global Justice and Research Project last month, targeting Liberia’s leading organization investigating civil war crimes, according to security guards, and alarming activists who say threats against victims, witnesses and investigators are rising. According to Hassan Bility, director…
Threats to witnesses in the trials of accused perpetrators in the United States and Europe aregrowing according to justice activists. Seven victims who have testified have been relocated inthe last six months alone.New Narratives’ senior justice correspondent, Anthony Stephens, met one of the witnesses,who says he now fears for his safety after the United States…
Liberian justice advocates are pushing for stronger protections for victims as the country moves toward establishing a war crimes court. At a recent conference in Monrovia, human rights expert Elise Keppler stressed that crimes like forced marriage and other gender‑based abuses must be fully recognized in the court’s legislation to ensure meaningful justice. She said…
Liberia is taking a major step toward long‑awaited justice as the U.N. Human Rights Office begins training 20 Liberian lawyers on prosecuting war crimes and crimes against humanity. The two‑day program aims to build local capacity ahead of a proposed war and economic crimes court, strengthening legal institutions and preparing lawyers who have never handled…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives JOHANNESBURG, South Africa—Apartheid was a vicious system of racism and racial separation that ended 30 years ago here, just as Liberia was winding down its first civil war. Since then, South Africa has emerged as an economic powerhouse that implemented a Truth and Reconciliation process that activists, economists, and…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives MONROVIA, Liberia— Liberia took a major step to end war time impunity this month when President Joseph Boakai issued an executive order to establish an office for a war crimes court to try those “bearing the greatest responsibility” for atrocities in civil wars that ended in 2003 and left…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives PAYNESVILLE, Montserrado —A local adoption agency with partners in the United States has been shut down and an arrest warrant issued for its Liberian and American heads and four local staff, according to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection. The ministry, which supervises adoption agencies and orphanages…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives 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…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives Liberian human rights advocates have told a US Congressional committee that it is crucial that the US government take the lead in funding war and economic crimes courts for Liberia. The advocates, including Dr. Alan White, a former chief investigator of the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, Elizabeth Evenson,…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives MONROVIA, Liberia—Finance Minister Boima Kamara has said health issues were the cause of his absence from duty over recent months leading President Boakai to request his resignation as reported by Front Page Africa on Monday. Front Page Africa/New Narratives have learned that in a closed-door UN donor meeting on July 3…
Leading human rights lawyer Tiawan Gongloe has condemned the process for selection of the head of the Office for the War and Economics Crimes courts By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives MONROVIA, Liberia—After a bad start to the launch of the Office for the War and Economics Crimes courts human rights advocates are demanding President…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives In a hearing at the Ecowas Court of Justice in Abuja, Nigeria, the Liberian government has asked the court to dismiss a $US1.5 million lawsuit accusing it of dereliction of duty by not investigating and prosecuting those responsible for the St. Peter’s Lutheran Church massacre in Monrovia, committed by…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives Monrovia – President Joseph Boakai has taken the first step in inviting international support for the establishment of Liberia’s War and Economic Crimes Courts by sending a letter to António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary General, requesting financial and technical assistance for the courts. Requesting UN support is a crucial…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives MONROVIA, Liberia—The leader of Liberia’s powerful National Bar Association, the professional organization of the nation’s lawyers, has joined the growing list of civil society and victims’ groups that have condemned the process by which President Joseph Boakai appointed Cllr. Jonathan Massaquoi as executive director of the Office of War…
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives Monrovia – The US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice has condemned Mr. Alan White, an American former investigator for the Sierra Leone Special Court, and a group of activists for making unsubstantiated allegations against leading human rights activists in a Congressional committee hearing in Washington D.C. last month. Mr….
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives The Finnish government has awarded €390,000 ($US426,00) in compensation to Gibril Massaquoi, the former Sierra Leonean rebel leader acquitted in January of war crimes and crimes against humanity prosecutors said he committed during Liberia’s second civil war between 1999-2003. The payment covers Mr. Massaquoi’s loss of liberty and income during the…
