SLJ Replies Jurist Shifting Corruption in Courts System On Media

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SLJ Replies Jurist Shifting Corruption in Courts System On Media

(August 13, 2020) The Society of Liberian Journalists (SLJ) has called on the countryโ€™s judicial authorities to stop woeful justification of open acts of corruption within the countryโ€™s court system.
In a statement released by Octavin T. Williams, SLJ Executive Director, in Monrovia, the group described as shameful, Associate Supreme Court Justice Jamesetta Wolokollie assertion that acts of corruption involving judges and court officials were โ€œpettyโ€.
‘Utterances of this kind only serve as incentives for rogue judges, lawyers and other court officials to continuously put justice on sale for the highest bidders and ignore the true essence of free and fair justice as demanded by the countryโ€™s constitution,’ SLJ Executive Director Octavin Williams said.
Even more frivolous and out of place is the Supreme Court Judgeโ€™s claim that it is the Liberian media that is preaching an exaggerated picture of corruption within the judiciary.
What more evidence is there to show that the Judiciary is corrupt when Supreme Court Justices vote to open impeachment trial against one of their kinds and is judged guilty and removed from office.
What more evidence is there to show when a pivotal court like the Commercial Court that should be instilling investorsโ€™ confidence and displaying symptoms of a fair business climateย  has in fact become the epicenter of corruption and distrust within the judiciary with one of its judges found guilty for corruption and another facing investigation for reported malpractices of a significant magnitude.
The SLJ appreciates efforts by local and international actors including the very Supreme Court, which Justice Wolokollie sits to stem corruption in the courts.
Yet, we see it very troubling and dangerous for a Judge of a constitutional court to spill hate against journalists and media workers who are protected by the constitution to monitor the workings of the government, hold it accountable and protect the nationโ€™s democracy.

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