Justice activists are adamant that justice for atrocities committed during Liberia’s civil conflicts since 1979 is essential to entrenching the rule of law and ending a sense of impunity that has thrived in the country. But how many people need to face justice for those benefits to be delivered?

That’s the question that will face officials and prosecutors of Liberia’s war and economic crimes courts. Liberia’s 2009 Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Report documented 163,615 gross human rights violations and abuses of international humanitarian law during the period from 1979 to 2003, including unlawful killings, cannibalism, rape, enslavement, recruitment of child soldiers and torture.

The TRC recommended 116 “most notorious perpetrators” face trial. It recommended another 40 people and companies face trial for economic crimes and 54 be investigated.  

As a coalition of experts gets to work on plans for Liberia’s war and economics crimes courts, there are a large range of issues to consider. In a special series Front Page Africa/New Narratives look in depth at the issues. In Part 3, we ask-who will be tried?

But the cold reality is that far fewer accused perpetrators will face trial in Liberia’s courts. Experts say the extraordinary cost and complexity of trying Liberia’s accused perpetrators, and the extremely limited amount of funds that will likely be available, will mean that probably no more than two dozen perpetrators will face trial. Indeed, it may be as few as a dozen. 

That will mean officials will have to make some tough decisions.

“I think that in order to be viable, Liberian groups – with the Office heading this court, and in consultation with Liberian human rights groups and victims – should come up with a very narrow list which would be basically representatives of factions and tribes, and that would be the highest level of responsibility during the wars,” says Alain Werner, a prosecutor in the Charles Taylor trial and now Director of Civitas Maxima, which has gathered evidence for investigations and prosecutions in Europe and the United States connected with Liberia’s civil wars. “I think this the only thing you can do – which is a lot – which is bringing accountability to Liberia. But I don’t think that any list bigger than that would be possible.”

Some of the heads of factions such as Roosevelt Johnson and Alhaji G.V. Kromah of the

United Liberation Movement of Liberia J and K respectively, and Francois Massaquoi of the Lofa Defense Force have died. But others such Senator Prince Johnson, head of the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL), George Boley, who headed the Liberia Peace Council (LPC), Senator Thomas Yaya Nimely, who headed the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (Model) and Sekou Damante Conneh, who headed the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd), are alive and present in the country.

All the warring factions are accused of committing widespread human rights violations.  Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front for Liberia was accused of committing the highest of all crimes reported to the TRC— two in every five – followed by Lurd and LPC with one in 10. Model was accused of 7 percent of violations while the INPFL was accused of 1.6 percent.

It may also be possible that other senior leaders of factions could be tried: people such as Agnes Taylor, ex-wife of Charles Taylor and an influential figure in the NPFL, ex-Nimba Senator, Adolphus Dolo, alias “General Peanut Butter” and Dan Morias, an ex-senator and superintendent of Maryland County. Among the LPC leadership were Weade Kobbah-Boley, University of Liberia professor, and former vice chair of the group, and Ruth Milton, Field Commander.

Top Ulimo leaders include Colonel Abraham Kromah, suspended director of the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency and ex-chief of staff of the Armed Forces of Liberia, Armah Youlo

and Mohammed Jabateh alias “Jungle Jabbah,” who is serving a 30-year sentence in the US for criminal immigration fraud. Lurd leaders include Ambassador Isaac Nyandibo, who was recently recalled as Liberia’s Ambassador to the European Union, ex-Grand Gedeh County Superintendent, Kai Farley, Gen. Ofori Diah, alias “Iron Jacket,” Aisha Conneh and Lt. Gen. Prince Seo, former Lurd Chief of Staff.

“That will not be fine. That will not be justice. Every one of them – those that are still alive – should be prosecuted. Justice means a lot to victims. Justice will bring relief to victims. It will heal that wound and it will serve as a deterrent for others. If you say you’re prosecuting people, and you are not prosecuting Taylor, you have not done anything.”  -Peterson Sonyah, head of a victims and survivors’ group

Some like General Benjamin Yeaten, a Taylor aide and head of his Special Security Service, is known to be moving around West Africa and may be extradited.

Experts say ensuring that justice is meted out fairly among the various factions will be key to reducing perceptions of bias on the part of the courts.

Representative Sumo Kollie Mulbah, who put the resolution for the war and economic crimes courts on the floor of the House of Representatives, agrees that it will be impossible to prosecute every alleged perpetrator.

“You will not have jail for everybody, because we have more than 5,000 to 10,000 people who killed people in this country,” said Representative Mulbah, who represents district 3 in Montserrado County, in an interview. “So, we cannot have all of them in jail. But those perpetrators, the main ones – those that sponsored, those that gave the orders – should be penalized.”

That so few will face justice will likely come as a disappointment to Liberia’s many victims. More than 22,000 testified to the TRC. More than 250,000 people died and a million were displaced. After years building up to President Boakai’s commitment to the courts, experts say expectations are high.

Mr Peterson Sonyah, head of Liberia Massacre Survivors Association

“That will not be fine. That will not be justice,” said Mr. Peterson Sonyah, head of a victims and survivors’ group. “Every one of them – those that are still alive – should be prosecuted. Justice means a lot to victims. Justice will bring relief to victims. It will heal that wound and it will serve as a deterrent for others. Justice means prosecution – to prosecute those who committed crimes against our victims and survivors in this place here.”

One solution advocated by international and local experts is to have a two-tiered court. The “international court” would try those accused of violations of “international law” – international treaties and conventions such as war crimes, recruitment of child soldiers as well as so-called “crimes against humanity” – acts committed against civilians in a systemic way such as rape, enslavement, torture and murder. A “domestic court” would then try those accused of national crimes, for instance, one off acts of murder, torture or rape. The TRC listed 58 individuals who should face trial for these domestic crimes.

The international courts would be far more costly, because it would involve investigating and prosecuting repeated violations that may have gone on for years. They may implicate leaders who directed the crimes but did not commit them themselves. International crimes would likely need international lawyers and investigators with experience in prosecuting them but who will cost more money to employ than Liberian personnel.

Stephen Rapp, former chief prosecutor for the Special Court for Sierra Leone which convicted former Liberian president Charles Taylor for crimes committed in Sierra Leone where Taylor didn’t set foot during the commission of the crimes – said an international court will be required to try the leaders of Liberia’s factions. 

“When you’re talking about someone who was involved in a single massacre or they enslaved a particular woman or girl as a sex slave, that may be a simpler case that can be tried in a week or two,” said Ambassador Rapp, who was also the former US Ambassador for Global Criminal Justice under President Barack Obama, in a video interview. “But when you talk about leaders or commanders, those can take a much longer period of time. For Liberia to come along and try somebody now and try to put in all of the international law that applies to it – that deals with questions about the responsibility of commanders, or that define sexual slavery or forced marriage or torture or other crimes – you want to bring in that international law.”

Ambassador Rapp, who is working with The Gambia to set up its own hybrid court to try those accused of serious human rights violations under the regime of dictator Yahya Jammeh, points to their “hybrid” court as a model. The Gambia is planning two divisions with the international court being established with Ecowas.

“They’re looking at a court to do those, maybe a dozen high level cases, and then, according to their Truth Commission, they have another 60 or 65 people that are at a lower level, and that could be done in a high court division of their national system.”

Ambassador Rapp said the Gambia’s total budget will be under $60 million. He estimated Liberia’s courts would need a minimum of 10 to 15 years with a cost of at least $US60 million.

How much donors will contribute and how much Liberia’s government is willing to commit itself will govern all the questions. Even then, the courts may decide that some perpetrators – with the capacity to present a security threat, or ability to escape into exile – will not be worth the cost.

One of those they may decide is not worth the cost is Charles Taylor. Convicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the former Liberian president is 12 years into a 50-year term in a UK prison. The Special Court and the UK government may be willing to allow Taylor to face trial in a Liberian court under the proviso that any prison term be served after his first term is served.

But Taylor’s trial took up as much as 80 percent of the $300 million cost ($430 million in 2024 dollars) of the Special Court. The remaining $50 million covered the trials of 12 others. Then-president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was alleged to have only agreed to request Taylor’s surrender on the condition he was tried outside of West Africa. That necessitated the hugely expensive four-year relocation of the court to the Hague in the Netherlands. A high-ranking official of the court, who did not want to be named, said Taylor’s trial cost $250 million – covering infrastructure, legal proceedings, security, witness protection programs, video links, and payment to salaries. One estimate put the costs of Taylor’s legal team, alone, at $US100,000 a month.

Liberia’s court prosecutors may decide the cost of trying Taylor – who would be 114 when his UK prison term ends and he were to live that long – may not be worthwhile or even possible.

That suggestion enraged Mr. Sonyah, the victims’ advocate. He said failure to include Taylor – whose NPFL was accused of by far the most human right violations reported to the TRC – would not be accepted by victims.  

You can’t just leave Taylor out and say, ‘let’s try the other people since he’s in jail now and get the others.’ No, no, no, no, no, no!” said Mr. Sonyah. “If you say you’re prosecuting people, and you are not prosecuting Taylor, you have not done anything.

Madam Tennen Tehoungue, a Liberian transitional justice expert, agreed that victims will not feel satisfied if only a handful of victims are tried. While she understands international funds may be hard to come by, she wants the government to work harder to find the money itself to fund the process no matter how long it takes.

“That’s why I’ve tried to dismiss this argument that there is no money to prosecute,” said Madam Tehoungue in a video call from Dublin, Ireland where she is undertaking PHD studies. “We are going to make this person as the figurehead and say, ‘yes we advocated and there one person or two people taken’. This is not how people deal with wrongs, especially human rights abuses, especially massacre.”

Managing expectations of victims, amid the sacrifices imposed by limited funding will be one of the many challenges officials of Liberia’s upcoming law and economics courts will have to juggle.

The next stories in this series will look at issues including security, staffing, the courts’ location and witness protection. This story is a collaboration with FrontPage Africa as part of the West Africa Justice Reporting Project. Funding was provided by the Swedish embassy in Liberia. The donor had no say in the story’s content.