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Liberia: Lawyers' Aid Needed, Not Hunger Strike
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The NEWS (Monrovia)
EDITORIAL
2 April 2008
Posted to the web 2 April 2008
Monrovia
A 15-year-old boy was allegedly killed last December on Newport Street in Monrovia when he was kicked in the testes. A suspect was apprehended, but was later released because police said there was no evidence to prosecute him.
The deceased, 15-year-old Alvin Davies' body has been at the J.F.K. Hospital morgue for nearly four months now. His mother, Rachel Borley, had requested an autopsy to determine the cause of death, but the government is delaying to conduct the autopsy because, according to Justice Minister Philip Banks, the government has no money to conduct the autopsy.
Due to government's apparent inability to conduct the autopsy, the mother is requesting for her child's dead body for burial.
But interestingly, the government seems not to be enthusiastic in handing over the child's dead body to the mother for burial.
The mother has, therefore, threatened to go on hunger strike by Friday should the government continues its delay in turning over her son's remains.
The mother then lamented, "We have walked up and down to relevant government ministries and agencies, but our efforts were in vain; from now to Thursday if my son's body is not released for burial I will go on hunger strike for them to know that I am serious".
We would firstly like to extend our deepest sympathy to the mother and other family members of the child and pray that his soul rests in perfect peace.
And as we console the mother and other family members, we would also like to urge the mother of the deceased child to withdraw her threats of hunger strike for two reasons: firstly, we are inclined to believe that hunger strikes don't mean anything to Liberian governments, whether past or present because Liberian governments have never demonstrated a culture to fathom the negative image that hunger strikes by citizens portray on the nation; secondly, we think there are legal means by which the government can be compelled to hand over the child's dead body.
We would therefore urge all close associates of the mother of the deceased child to aid her seek legal redress.
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If legal fees are not affordable to the mother, there are few more "poor man's lawyers" around who, when approached, could be of legal help to have the court issue writ compelling the government to produce the dead body of the child.
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