— As Appointment of Cllr. Johanthan Massaquoi Gets More Endorsement
IPNEWS: Over the past two decades, impunity has reigned supreme in Liberia, with suspected wartime criminals engaged in political intimidation, threats of renewed violence and doling out the spoils of war.
Some have reinvented themselves as millionaires-cum-moguls, philanthropists, political kingmakers, ethno-nationalists or reformed evangelists, manipulating and distorting violent wartime memories for the purpose of evading accountability.
A case in point is a resolution to establish a Transitional Justice Commission (TJC), proposed by the Liberian Senate in 2021 but rejected by the House of Representatives, who perceived it as a bid to audit the work of the TRC and declare its reports and recommendations illegal.
Prosecuting alleged Liberian war criminals abroad through universal jurisdiction has also been challenging. A mere three convictions have been handed down in American and European courts with the most recent ruling in Switzerland sentencing a notorious rebel commander to 20 years in jail.
The lack of accountability and other hallmarks of “negative peace” have permeated Liberia and are often reflected in its politics.
Over the weekend, immediately after the appointment of Cllr. Johnathan Massaquoi by President Joseph N. Boakai, some Civil Society Organizations with records of coaching numerous individuals to lied on some Liberians without genuine reasons began to detest the appointment.
With evidence, those Civil Society Organizations accused Cllr. Massaquoi of being biased only for serving as lead counsel to some Liberians accused of war crimes.
Swiftly, the Office of The War & Economic Crimes Court of Liberia (WECCL) rebuked the accusation terming the Civil Society Organization accusation as ‘Baseless Unsolicited Ignorance’.
The office of the WECCL, stated that the select group of civil society organizations under the aegis of the Coalition for the Establishment of War and Economic Crimes Courts in Liberia and Human Rights Community of Liberia, argument proffered that the Executive Director of the Office of the War & Economic Crimes Court, Cllr. Jonathan T. Massaquoi, an astute and erudite lawyer with impeccable character is unqualified to head the Office of The War & Economic Crimes Court primarily because he provided legal representation for Madam Agnes Reeves Taylor, who was on trial in the United Kingdom for alleged war crimes during Liberia’s civil war, and a war crimes indictee from Sierra Leone, Mr. Gebril Massaquoi in a Finnish Court, as well as instituting multiple lawsuits against some individuals acting under the banner of human rights institutions is unfair and self-seeking.
In a statement issued in Monrovia, the Office of the War and Economic Crimes Court highlights that such argument is misleading with the intent to sidetrack current strives being made by the Country to break away from the culture of impunity, and instituting justice and accountability, which will bring closure to our belligerent past, thus setting our Country on the trajectory to the adherence of the rule of law.
“These very few individuals have set up themselves as side track by manifesting unsolicited ignorance of how a criminal justice system both locally and internationally works to include the role of lawyers.”
“Against this backdrop and to create clarity in the minds of the vast majority of Liberians who sincerely and overwhelmingly welcomes the establishment of the Office of the War and Economic Crimes Courts in Liberia, which is expected to ensure the setting up of the War and Economic Crimes Court in Liberia, the Office of The War & Economic Crimes Court counters the arguments, allegations, and conclusion proffered by these distractors to wit:
- That Article 21. (i) of the 1986 Constitution states, “the right to counsel and the rights of counsel shall be inviolable. There shall be no interference with the lawyer-client relationship. In all trials, hearings, interrogatories, and other proceedings where a person is accused of a criminal offense, the accused shall have the right to counsel of his choice; and where the accused is unable to secure such representation, the Republic shall make available legal aid services to ensure the protections of his rights. There shall be absolute immunity from any government sanctions or interference in the performance of legal services as a counselor or advocate; lawyers’ offices and homes shall not be searched or papers examined or taken save pursuant to a search warrant and court order; no lawyer shall be prevented from or punished for providing legal services, regardless of the charges against or the guilt of his client, no lawyer shall be barred from practice for political reasons.” [sic] Today, we hear Human Rights Advocates, who should be moral guarantors of the Constitution of Liberia in the protection of the fundamental rights of all citizens, including the right to equal opportunity for work and employment, and not only Accra Peace Accord of 2003, petitioning the Government of Liberia to openly violate Article 21 (1) only because of self-aggrandizement and appeasement, and not on the merit of any moral and ethical breach.
- That the non-interference with the lawyer-client relationship, and absolute immunity from any sanctions or interference in the performance of legal services as a counselor or advocate is not unique to Liberia but constitutes a fundament pillow of international crime law. The Office of War & Economic Crimes Court submits that the legal profession is the only profession/vocation that is constitutionally protected and, as such, no government can sanction or reprimand any lawyer for performing his/her constitutional duty. Moreover, all criminal defendants have a right to a lawyer of his/her choice in a criminal case, thus creating a lawyer-client relationship in which no government agency or court of law can deprive a lawyer from holding public office.”
“Simply put, LAWYERS ARE NOT PARTY TO A CASE! There are litanies of precedents under both our criminal justice system and the international criminal justice system that allude to that fundamental principle; we shall take recourse to the International Criminal Court, (ICC), and the United States of America. On February 12, 2021, Mr. Karim Ahmad Khan was elected the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Before his election, Mr. Khan between 2006 and 2007 served as the lead defense counsel to former President, Charles Ghankay Taylor, and Mrs. Fatou Sankoh, wife of Foday Sankoh before the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL). Second, the current Associate Justice of the Federal Supreme Court of the United States of America, Her Honor Ketanji Brown Jackson was a defense counsel for inmates at Guantanamo Bay charged with terrorism and other heinous crimes by the United States of America, and successfully representing those defendant’s legal interest; today she sits on the Supreme Court of the United States of America.”
Now, international acclaimed Human Rights Advocate and Investigator, Michael Rubin has descended the repeated partiality of some perceived Human Rights Group and Civil Society Organizations in the quest for justice and guard against impunity.
Michael Rubin in a Journal of the Washington Examiner stated that the human rights community today is like the tenured professorship in elite universities. Political groupthink trumps integrity, and inside dealing predominates. Academics might argue among themselves over theoretical intricacies or departmental issues, but as soon as an outside perspective challenges political assumptions or agendas, they circle the wagons.
Over the past decade, I have written repeatedly about fraud in the human rights community as groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International prioritize political agendas over objective methodology and standards. Too often, they put their own bottom lines above any responsibility to the real victims of human rights abuse.
As Liberians fought for justice, some groups sought to profit. Switzerland-based Civitas Maxima sold itself to donors as an effective group hunting down war criminals and forcing them to face justice. Its press releases documented a number of so-called triumphs, each of which the group was able to utilize to gather more grants from groups such as the California-based Center for Justice and Accountability and the State Department itself.
The problem, however, is that Civitas Maxima and its local Liberian partner, Global Justice and Research Project, coached witnesses and falsified testimony. In one high-profile case, a Finnish court twice acquitted Gibril Massaquoi on a variety of war crimes charges. While Civitas Maxima witnesses initially testified they witnessed him commit crimes, he had an airtight alibi: At the time of the war crimes, Massaquoi was an informant working in close coordination with the chief investigator of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, which had him in its protective custody and under 24-hour guard. Confronted with such evidence, Civitas Maxima witnesses admitted the witness-tampering scheme.
On June 13, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission held a hearing on the way forward for Liberia. There is reason for optimism. In January, Joseph Boakai replaced Weah and signed an executive order to establish the office of the War and Economic Crimes Court.
Human Rights Watch, testifying on behalf of a variety of groups including Civitas Maxima, the Global Justice and Research Project, and the Center for Justice and Accountability, argued that it and its compromised allies should be the gatekeepers for the court’s staffing. This raised hackles among legitimate human rights activists inside Liberia, given the fraud in which Civitas Maxima and the Global Justice and Research Project appear to have engaged and the Center for Justice and Accountability’s responsibility for funding it.
Liberians are furious that Beth Van Schaack, the Biden administration’s ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice, has not only refused to recuse herself given her previous role at the Center for Justice and Accountability during the height of its Liberia grantee’s fraud but that she circled the wagons after exposure of the witness tampering. This violates the Office of Government Ethics guidelines, which prohibit endorsing or supporting organizations with which officials were previously affiliated.
Boakai, to his credit, has slammed the door on Human Rights Watch, Van Schaack, and their efforts to profit off of Liberia’s tragedy. On June 20, the Liberian president appointed Jonathan Massaquoi, a lawyer who had represented a victim of the Civitas Maxima fraud, to head the court. Human Rights Watch, which demanded a Liberian face, should have no choice but to accept.
Liberians celebrate because they know Massaquoi will have no tolerance for the slipshod methodology or profit-first motivations of establishment human rights groups and their local partners. Score 1 for justice, 0 for Human Rights Watch.
Meanwhile, the Civil Society Network of Liberia (CSNL) unreservedly welcomes the appointment of Cllr. Jonathan Massaquoi as Executive Director for The Office of War & Economic Crimes Court in Liberia. We commend President Joseph Boakai for the critical steps taken towards the establishment of the Office of the War & Economic Crimes Court in Liberia and see Cllr. Massaquoi as a morally and professionally fit character for the job.
Investigations conducted by the Civil Society Network of Liberia on the character and work history of Cllr. Jonathan Massaquoi established that his many years of legal practice has not only been marked by professionalism and integrity, but there is no trace of his involvement into moral and ethical transgressions. He is a legally revered and respected lawyer, with outstanding performance among the cream of legal practitioners in Liberia. We are of the strongest optimism that President Boakai’s appointment of Cllr. Massaquoi is in the right direction, as it will lead to the ultimate establishment of The War and Economic Crimes Court in Liberia. It is noteworthy to state that the Supreme Court Bar appointed Cllr. Jonathan Massaquoi as Amiscus Curie (friend of the court), where he wrote two different opinions that are used today by the Supreme Court to render down opinions on relevant cases before them. Cllr. Massaquoi’s Opinion on the cases: LTA Vs Orange Liberia and the (GOL) Vs Amos Brosius are among the reference opinions of the Supreme Court of Liberia.
The Civil Society Network of Liberia sees as legally and substantially flawed argument from a handful of Civil Society organizations, under the banner of the Coalition for the Establishment of War and Economic Crimes in Liberia and Human Rights Community of Liberia, that Cllr. Jonathan Massaquoi is unqualified to head the Office of The Establishment of War and Economic Crimes Court in Liberia, primarily because he provided legal representation for Madam Agnes Reeves Taylor, when she was on trial in the United Kingdom for alleged war crimes, and for that of a war crimes indictee from Sierra Leone, Mr. Gebril Massaquoi. We view this argument by these group of CSO institutions as a sidetracking attempt against the critical steps that the Liberian Government has taken to end impunity and institute justice and accountability in Liberia. The faulty logic of these few individuals, that by Cllr. Massaquoi’s representation of the legal interest of persons allegedly accused of war crimes makes him unqualified and compromised to serve as Executive Director is inconsistent with Article 21 (i) which gives all accused, including war crimes “the right to counsel” and absolute immunity from any government sanctions or interference in the performance of legal services as a counselor. As provided for under the lawyer client relationship, where lawyers are not party to a case, there can be moral and professional question over the character of Cllr. Massaquoi.
Furthermore, research conducted by the Civil Society Network of Liberia provides information on lawyers who provided representation for alleged war crimes indictee, yet they later got appointed to integrity and credible positions with no attachment of their character to their practice. Mr. Karim Ahmed Khan, who served as lead defense counsel to war crime convict, former President Charles Taylor and Mrs. Fatou Sankoh, wife of Foday Sankoh, was later elected Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Additionally, Her Honor Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was the defense counsel for inmates at Guantanamo Bay charged with terrorism and other heinous crimes, was appointed, confirmed and now serves as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the US.
The Civil Society Network of Liberia calls on the few CSO institutions against the service of Cllr. Jonathan Massaquoi as Executive Director of the Office of the War & Economic Crimes Court in Liberia to desist, as this astute lawyer is resolute to ensuring that the long awaited a & Economic Crimes Court is established in Liberia. We urge Cllr. Massaquoi not to be deterred, but remain focused and determined in working to bring to realization the mandate of establishing The War & Economic Crimes Court in Liberia is achieved.
