By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives Lawyers for Kunti Kamara, a Liberian war criminal who was convicted by a French court last week for his role in the country’s first civil war, have appealed his landmark judgment. It is a decision that may see the entire case being re-litigated. Last week the Paris Appeal Court…
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French Court Sentences Liberian Warlord to Life Imprisonment
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives PARIS, France—A French court has convicted and sentenced Liberian warlord Kunti Kamara to a life sentence for complicity in crimes against humanity, torture and barbarism following a dramatic three-week trial here in the French capital. Kamara listened keenly as the judge read the counts. He looked closely at the…
Prosecution Wants Accused Liberian Warlord Given Live Imprisonment, But Defense Pleads Innocence; Claims Unfair Trial
PARIS, France—Prosecutors in the war crimes trial of Kunti Kamara, an accused Liberian warlord have asked the French jury hearing his case to find him guilty of all the charges he’s accused of, but his defense claims he’s innocent and has not been accorded a fair trial. By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives Mr. Kamara,…
Victims Detail Forced Labor Under Ulimo As Kamara Admits to Paris Trial he was the Only “Co Kundi’ in Lofa
By Anthony Stephens and Prue Clarke with New Narratives As he has done throughout the trial Kamara denied that he knew anything of child soldiers, torture, sex slaves, rape, cannibalism and forced labor in the county despite the testimony of dozens of Liberian and international witnesses in this trial and hearings of Liberia’s 2008 Truth…
“I would never eat human heart” Kamara Tells War Crimes Court as TRC Commissioner Washington Makes a Powerful Case for the Legitimacy of the French Trial
PARIS, France – The former Ulimo commander Kunti Kamara, on trial here for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Liberia’s civil wars, had his first chance to make a substantive response to the allegations made against him in the first five days of this trial. Under questioning from the judges, civilian lawyers and prosecution lawyers…
“No Doubt Whatsoever, That is Him” Victim Tells Paris War Crimes Court
By Prue Clarke PARIS, France – The trial of Kunti Kamara for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Paris took a dramatic turn late Friday as the presiding judge in the trial asked a witness if the man he had described committing multiple atrocities, including killing four members of the victim’s family, was in…
Kamara Defense Challenges Absence of Forensic Evidence; French Reveal a Second Liberian Case
By Prue Clarke with New Narratives PARIS, France – Day four of the war crimes trial of Kunti Kamara looked closely at the investigations in France and Liberia that produced evidence prosecutors are using in the case against the former commander of the United Liberation Movement for Democracy in Liberia. Two Liberian leads in the…
A Culture Of Impunity Reigns, Former TRC Commissioner Tells Paris War Crimes Court
PARIS, France – Day three of the war crimes trial of Liberian Kunti Kamara was all about setting the scene of Liberia’s civil war and the history that led up to it for the jury of six French citizens and three judges who will decide this case. The court heard from three witnesses including French photographer…
Kamara Admits Falsifying Travel Documents To Escape Europe As Police Closed In; Role of the Mandingo Community in France Under Scrutiny
PARIS, France – It didn’t take long for prosecutors to catch Kunti Kamara in multiple traps in day two of his war crimes trial Tuesday. The former colonel with the United Liberation Movement of Liberia insisted repeatedly that he had not been trying to flee Europe when he was arrested in January 2020 carrying a…
Trial Of Liberian Rebel For War Crimes Begins In France
PARIS, France – Though the charges being considered in the trial that got underway here today are “barbarous” according to prosecutors, day one was a quiet affair with the presiding judge of the three-judge panel drawing from a box the names of the jurors who would join them in deciding the fate of former rebel Kunti…
Kunti K War Crimes Trial Begins In France
PARIS, France —The trial of Kunti Kamara, a former battlefront commander for the United Liberation Movement of Liberia, began Monday at the French Court of Appeals for crimes against humanity, torture and acts of barbarism allegedly committed in Liberia between 1993 and 1994. Known as “Kunti-K” among other war names, the 48-year-old is being prosecuted…
Swiss Court Announces Appeal Dates for Convicted Liberian War Criminal Kosiah
The Swiss Federal Criminal Court has announced dates to hear the appeal of convicted Liberian war criminal, Alieu Kosiah. In June 2021 the Court sentenced Kosiah to 20 years in prison for war crimes during Liberia’s first civil war in June 2021. The Court, in the Alps town of Bellinzona, will hold hearings on Kosiah’s…
UK Police Arrest a Man for Alleged Role in Liberia’s Wars
By Anthony Stephens, New Narratives Senior Justice Reporter United Kingdom police have arrested and detained a man in his 40s on war crimes charges for his alleged role in the Liberian civil war in the 1990s and early 2000s. The arrest of the man, whose name is being withheld by UK Metropolitan police, “follows a…
US Court Orders Thomas to Pay $84m to Victims of Lutheran Church Massacre; An Angry Thomas Condemns the Ruling
MONROVIA – A US court has ordered Moses Thomas, the former Armed Forces of Liberia commander found liable for the St. Peter’s Lutheran Church massacre, to pay $US84 million to four victims of the brutal killings that caught the world’s attention in 1990. By Anthony Stephens, Senior Justice Reporter with New Narratives An estimated 600 people,…
US Arrests Top AFL Commander on Charges Related to Liberian Civil War
By Anthony Stephens with New Narratives United States authorities have charged Moses Wright, one of the most important figures in the turmoil that engulfed Liberia in the late 1980s and 90s, with immigration fraud and perjury related to his actions during the Liberian civil war. The indictment alleges Wright, 69, a cousin of late Liberian…
NPFL General on TRC “Most Notorious” List Dies; Angry Victims Say He Escaped Justice
***CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story carried an image of a family member of Melvin Sogbandi. FrontPage Africa and New Narratives regret the error *** By Eric Opa Doue, Senior New Narratives Justice Reporter JUAH TOWN, Grand Bassa – James Diggs broke down in tears when he heard the news of the death of Melvin Sogbandi….
One Year Since President Weah Declared Rape a National Emergency Activists Say Nothing Has Changed
President Weah promised to set up a special committee to look into sexual and gender-based crimes. He promised a special prosecutor to handle rape cases, a national sex offender registry, and a national security task force to handle sexual and gender-based violence. The president said he had allocated $US2m in emergency funding to the problem.
But a year on, nothing has been heard of the committee or government plans to address the problem. Activists are bitterly disappointed….
A New Bill to Ban Female Genital Cutting Looks Set for Defeat Even as Liberians Abandon the Practice
Liberia is one of just three West African nations where female genital cutting is legal. In this two-part series with New Narratives Evelyn Kpadeh Seagbeh finds strong resistance to the bill from traditional leaders and little political will to challenge them. At the same time Sande’s membership is plummeting. MOUNT BARCLAY, Montserrado – 18-year-old Dearest is one…
Fishing Industry Offers Big Opportunities but Challenges Linger
By Nemenlah Cyrus Harmon with New Narratives WEST POINT BEACH, Monrovia – Food is getting scarcer in Liberia. People can feel it every day in rice shortages at the market and higher prices. The pandemic and the war in Ukraine have played a role but the biggest factor is climate change and it’s only going to…
FGM Bush Schools Still Operational Despite Three-Year Moratorium
GARPUE TOWN, Grand Bassa County – Schools are now open in Liberia, but 14-year-old Tutugirl has not joined her classmates. Tutugirl says it has been impossible since she returned injured and traumatized from the “bush school” where she and her friends were forcefully taken after they were kidnapped from this town in September. While she…
Liberia gets Tough on Human Trafficking with Amended Law
In part three of this three-part series Anthony Stephens looks at the Liberian government’s efforts to get tough on human trafficking. In September 2021 the Liberian government sent a signal it was getting tough on human trafficking. The Legislature passed a revision to a 2005 law increasing the prison sentence for anyone found guilty of…