PHILADELPHIA, USA – Laye Sekou Camara, a former high-ranking general with Liberian rebel group Lurd who pled guilty last week to four counts of lying about his war record to US immigration authorities, will face 17 of his accusers in two days of sentencing hearings starting in here today.
Experts said Camara, 46, who has been in home detention in the US state of New Jersey since being charged in 2022, may have been waiting to see if all the witnesses from Liberia would be courageous enough to come to the court to testify. Experts said that when all 17 witnessed arrived in Philadelphia last week Camara likely realized there was no chance of the jury returning a non-guilty verdict and decided to plead guilty in an effort to persuade the judge to reduce his prison sentence. He is facing a maximum of forty years.
Two previous trials of Liberian warlords on similar charges brought by the same Pennsylvania prosecutors ended in quick guilty verdicts. Ulimo leader Mohammed Jabbateh, convicted in 2017, is serving a 30-year sentence. Tom Woewiyu, a top lieutenant of warlord Charles Taylor, was facing a 70-year sentence when he died of Covid in 2021 before his sentencing.
Camara, who was known as “K-1” and “Dragon Master” during the conflict, will be sentenced on May 19, 2025.
Camara admitted to the four charges including one count of possessing a fraudulent green card and three counts of using it to apply for a Pennsylvania identification card, a New Jersey home health aide license, and a job at a New Jersey-based home healthcare agency. He was arrested at JFK International Airport in 2022 as he attempted to board an international flight.
Judge Chad F. Kenney ordered two days of sentencing hearings where the 17 witnesses will testify about Camara’s alleged crimes. These testimonies, according to legal experts, could have a significant impact on his final sentence as they provide crucial context for his actions during the civil war.
A victim lies by the roadside as people flee fighting by Lurd rebels. Photo by Tim Hetherington, from Long Story Bit By Bit: Liberia Retold.
Camara is the first commander of the rebel group Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd) to face trial. Another Lurd leader, Jancuba Fofana, was charged in the UK in 2020, but his case has since languished in UK courts.
Lurd was formed late in Liberia’s 14 years of civil conflict but it quickly became one of the most violent factions. It was accused of committing 12 per cent of all atrocities reported to Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, second only to Taylor’s NPFL, which was accused of 4 in every 5 crimes. Lurd’s violent assault on Monrovia in July and August in 2003 helped force Taylor to resign, ending the conflict.
In an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer Ellis Palividas, Camara’s attorney, sought to portray his client as a victim of Liberia’s conflict. Palividas said Camara was 12 when he and his family tried to flee Liberia and reach neighboring Sierra Leone. They were stopped at a checkpoint where his father was tortured and beheaded in front of Camara and relatives, including his 2-year-old sister. His stepmother was also raped while the family was held in custody, Palividas said.
Palividas said Camara was then recruited as a child soldier and was, “in many ways, also a victim of this conflict.” He denied his client was guilty of the crimes in the allegations but acknowledged that he had lied to immigration authorities about his past.
Prosecutors had planned to present evidence linking Camara to numerous extrajudicial killings, including the murder of civilians that he allegedly personally oversaw, as well as recruitment of child soldiers. One allegation accused him of the execution of a woman who had recently given birth. Another said Camara killed a man over a stolen pair of headphones and displayed the body as a public warning.
Prosecutors and witnesses hope they can influence Judge Hayden to enforce the harshest sentence in spite of Camara’s guilty plea. Judge Kenney will consider US sentencing guidelines and weigh the testimonies provided by the witnesses, Camara’s own war time experience and his confession when determining Camara’s fate.
Either way Camara’s guilty plea is being celebrated by justice advocates in Liberia.
“This is a victory for the courageous victims of Liberia’s brutal civil wars,” said Mr. Hassan Bility, director of Global Justice and Research Project, which together with Civitas Maxima, its Swiss partner, has helped to gather evidence used by American and European prosecutors in trials related to Liberia’s civil wars. “Warlords who have evaded justice for so long, can no longer use the tactic of fear to perpetuate impunity.”
Lurd fighters in the streets of Monrovia in 2003. Credit: Tim Hetherington, Long Story Bit by Bit: Liberia Retold
“Camara lied about his brutal history in Liberia to get a green card and live in the United States, enjoying the benefits and protections provided by our government’s laws, even as he flouted them,” said Jacqueline C. Romero, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern Pennsylvania District, whose office brought the case, in a statement. “The Department of Justice is committed to working with our federal and international partners to deny human rights violators safe haven in this country.”
“The guilty plea by Laye Sekou Camara is another resounding example of coordination and collaboration targeting human rights violators globally,” said Edward V. Owens, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Philadelphia. “HSI, along with the excellent prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, will continue to thoroughly investigate and prosecute such offenses to ensure that war criminals that engage in such horrific crimes against humanity will find no refuge within the United States.”
Camara’s trial was being closely watched because it is the first of more than 16 cases brought against European and diaspora perpetrators accused of crimes in Liberia’s civil wars in courts in Europe and the US to be held since Liberian President Joseph Boakai issued an executive order to establish a war and economics crimes court in Liberia. To date no one has faced justice for war-related crimes inside Liberia. Activists hope Liberia’s court will try perpetrators inside Liberia for similar crimes in the near future.
Meanwhile, Moses Wright, another Liberian charged with war-related immigration fraud by Pennsylvania prosecutors, will be watching these proceedings closely. Mr. Wright was a commander with the Armed Forces of Liberia under President Samuel Doe. He is expected to go on trial later this year. Though no specific date has been set for his trial, legal observers note that Wright may be influenced by the outcome of Camara’s sentencing. Depending on the length of the sentence Camara receives, Mr. Wright could decide to plead guilty as well, potentially avoiding a similar public trial and securing a lesser sentence in exchange for his own guilty plea.
Moses Thomas, also from the Armed Forces of Liberia, was found liable for the Lutheran Church Massacre in a civil case brought by victims here in Pennsylvania in 2021. He was ordered to pay $84 million in damages but fled the US to Liberia thereby avoiding enforcement.
This story was a collaboration with FrontPage Africa as part of the West Africa Justice Reporting Project.