8 April 2008
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The monitors of former President Charles Taylor's trial report for www.charlestaylortrial.org
Cross-Examination of Isaac Mongor Ends; A New Prosecution Witness Takes the Stand
The lengthy cross-examination of prosecution witness Isaac Mongor concluded on this, its sixth day. The defense placed most of its emphasis on inconsistent accounts from the witness and there was some indication that it has had some success with this line of attack. At one point Judge Julia Sebutinde expressed frustration with Mongor, saying, "every time he's asked a question we get a slightly different answer". When the defense had no further questions, the prosecution conducted a brief re-examination and the judges heard arguments over the admissibility of a prosecution document before ruling in favor of the prosecution on the question. Near the end of the day, Mongor was excused from the witness stand and the prosecution called its next witness, who said he is former member of the RUF who had been forcibly conscripted in 1991.
Cross-examination of Isaac Mongor concludes
Defense counsel Terry Munyard began the day by questioning Mongor about payments he received from the prosecution and the court's Victim and Witness Service section. Munyard then returned to questions regarding inconsistent accounts provided by Mongor in earlier interviews with the prosecution and in his days of testimony before the court.
Munyard worked through a prosecution document listing payments to the witness. Some payments were in the range of 15,000 to 50,000 Leones (about 5 to 17 US dollars), with reasons listed as transportation, meals and lost wages. 120,000 Leones (about 40 US dollars) was listed for "communication", which Mongor explained was to buy top-up cards for his mobile phone. The defense raised concern over dates listed in the document for which there were no interview notes provided by the prosecution. Prosecutor Nick Koumjian assured Munyard that all interview notes in existence had been disclosed to the defense, and Mongor testified that sometimes he was not paid on the day of the interview, but at a later date.
The defense then questioned Mongor about support from the Victim and Witness Service (VWS) section, a unit of the Registry, or impartial administrative arm of the court, which is also responsible for defense witnesses. Mongor came under VWS protection in March 2007, and he testified that he and his family moved to new housing at that time, for which the section paid the rent. The section also paid his family's food, medical and childcare expenses, provided money for Mongor to visit his relatives in the provinces, and funds to replace a lost mobile phone so that he could maintain contact with the court. Total support for just over a year came to over 14,300,000 Leones (about 4,800 US dollars). Munyard asked whether most of the prosecution and VWS payments represented "benefits" to Mongor, and Mongor conceded that most of these payments covered expenses that he otherwise would have had to pay out of his own pocket.
Munyard then shifted to ask about a letter that Mongor received from Acting Prosecutor Christopher Staker in December 2006, in which the Prosecutor assured Mongor that no charges would be brought against him, and went on to state, "I trust this will help put your mind at ease." Mongor said that he hadn't known in advance that the letter was coming, but had been told during his first contact with the prosecution office that he would not be prosecuted. Munyard introduced this topic just before launching an attack on Mongor's credibility related to a particularly damning allegation made by Mongor against Charles Taylor.
Mongor confirmed telling the court in March that senior Revolutionary United Front (RUF) commander Sam Bockarie had told him and other RUF commanders that on a visit to Monrovia, Bockarie and Taylor together had planned a series of attacks culminating in the invasion of Freetown that occurred on January 6, 1999. Mongor rejected Munyard's suggestions that the attack on Freetown had been a project of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and that there had been significant tensions between the AFRC and RUF despite their formal cooperation. Munyard then confronted the witness with notes from an interview with the prosecution in June 2007 in which Mongor told of an ammunition shipment that arrived from Liberia for the RUF before the AFRC coup in May 1997; the RUF top command decided not to inform the AFRC because there was some level of mistrust between the two organizations. Mongor confirmed the account and explained the discrepancy between this description of mistrust and his earlier insistence on a lack of mistrust by saying that it was Bockarie who had mistrust of the AFRC, while he himself had none. Munyard then asserted that Mongor had not got along well with an AFRC commander named Saj Musa. Mongor denied this, but then admitted to feeling relieved when he'd learned of Musa's death because he didn't cooperate well with the RUF.
Munyard then began to merge the themes of the prosecution's letter to Mongor assuring his safety from prosecution with Mongor's varying accounts of Taylor's involvement in planning the Freetown invasion. Mongor admitted to telling prosecution investigators in his early interviews that he didn't know about Taylor's involvement, and only later telling them about it. Mongor said the change came when he decided to tell the truth and live with the consequences. He admitted to having an initial fear of prosecution, "a shaky heart", despite the prosecution assurances. When Munyard asked at how many interviews he had lied, Mongor said he didn't remember. Munyard then suggested that with fear of prosecution, Mongor had decided to tell prosecution investigators who were "pressing" Mongor through repeated questions about Taylor what they wanted to hear. Mongor denied this.
Beyond the allegation about Taylor's involvement in planning the January 1999 invasion of Freetown, Munyard suggested that Mongor had been lying about the 1997 delivery of ammunition to the RUF from Taylor. Munyard cast doubt on Mongor's testimony about the timing of the delivery, establishing that Mongor was unfamiliar with the political or military situation in Liberia at the time of the alleged shipment.
Returning to the January 1999 invasion of Freetown, Munyard highlighted interview notes stating that Mongor hadn't participated in the invasion of Freetown. Mongor confirmed this, saying that Bockarie had sent him to invade Joru and Zimmi in southeastern Sierra Leone, and only later gave him an order to move near Freetown together with reinforcements from Liberia to join a gathering invasion force. Munyard suggested that it was odd of Mongor not to have volunteered this account in his early interview with investigators when asked if he had been involved in the invasion of Freetown.
Munyard again suggested that the invasion of Freetown had not been Taylor's plan, but rather that of AFRC commanders Saj Musa and Gullit, the latter having succeeded Musa upon his death just before the invasion. Mongor responded that Gullit's AFRC troops were the first into Freetown, but repeated his account of Taylor's involvement. Munyard again confronted him with his early statement to prosecutors that Mongor hadn't known anything about Taylor's involvement. Mongor said that hadn't been the truth, and couldn't explain why he had said it.
Munyard then read from February 2007 interview notes, which stated that Mongor said that the invasion of Freetown "was largely an AFRC project". Mongor confirmed saying this and explained that it was the AFRC that moved into Freetown, but that Taylor and Bockarie had planned it. He was adamant that the AFRC never would have made it into the city without coordinated RUF attacks elsewhere in the country. These attacks, Mongor said, were vital to the invasion's success because they prevented ECOMOG forces from concentrating on Freetown and repelling the invasion. Munyard read from notes of a previous statement to investigators that reflected Mongor saying that Saj Musa (of the AFRC) had been hard to work with because Musa felt he should take orders from no one. Mongor agreed with this, but said that he and the other AFRC men had agreed with Taylor's plan for the invasion, and in any case Musa had died in an explosion prior to the invasion. Nevertheless, he added, they had moved prematurely to invade the city without waiting for the full invasion force, including himself.
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