Human Rights Watch and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), have said that the trial in France of Kunti K. for crimes against humanity in his alleged role as a Liberian former armed group commander is an important step toward justice for victims of Liberia’s first civil war.
Kunti K. is accused of crimes against humanity committed during the first Liberian civil war, which devastated the country from 1989 to 1996.
On Wednesday April 7, 2021, a Finnish court concluded the Gibril Massaquoi case hearings in Monrovia, Liberia, which began on February 23. 21 days of hearings, during which 55 witnesses were heard and interrogated by Finnish prosecutors and defense lawyers.
Gibril Massaquoi, former RUF (Revolutionary United Front) spokesman and commander, has been charged with murders, aggravated rapes, aggravated war crime and aggravated crime against humanity, which he allegedly committed and incited during Liberia’s Second Civil War. The trial started in Finland on February 3, 2021.
Viktor Bout, born in former Soviet Union, was once the world’s most infamous arms dealer. He was accused to have fueled many wars across the world, in particular in Liberia. In 2012 he was sentenced to 25 years in jail by a U.S. court.
Finally, British police recently arrested and detained a man in his 40s on war crimes charges for his alleged role in the civil war.
According to a statement on the website of the Metropolitan Police, the arrest “follows a referral made to the Met’s War Crimes Team in January 2021 and relates to alleged war crimes committed during the Liberian Civil War in the 1990s and early 2000s.”
His name was withheld by UK Metropolitan police.
allAfrica
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