Death has taken another of the 100 alleged perpetrators that Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended face trial for their crimes during the Civil war.
Melvin Sogbandi died in a Monrovia hospital in January at age 53. Sogbandi led “Strike Force Marine,” one of the deadliest divisions of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia . Victims say Melvin Sogbandi leaves a legacy of ruthless violence and abuse in the country’s South Central County of Grand Bassa and across its boundaries.
As Eric Opa Doue Reports, survivors of Sogbandi’s attacks are angry that he died without facing justice.

This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of its Land Rights and Climate Reporting project. Funding was provided by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office and the American Jewish World Service.