Establishing the War and Economic Crimes Court was among Candidate Boakai strongest campaign pledges. As president, it is his most vexing duty.
In January 2024, a Court of Appeal in Finland upheld the acquittal of Gibril Massaquoi on war crimes and crimes against humanity charges during the Second Liberian Civil War (1999 - 2003). Massaquoi, 54, and a Sierra Leonean by birth, is a former top-ranking member and spokesperson of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), the Sierra Leonean rebel group that reigned terror on civilians during that country's civil war between 1991 and 2002. That he was on trial for war crimes allegedly committed in Liberia was testament to the bizzarrely well-coordinated nature of the two civil wars that were fought simultaneously, as the trial of former Liberian strongman, Charles Taylor revealed.
In the early 2000s, Massaquoi turned informant and witness against his rebel comrades - including former Liberian president Charles Taylor - in the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL). In return, he was given immunity and subsequently relocated to Finland.
At his Finland trial, the prosecution built a case on a theory that Massaquoi had come to Liberia between 2000 and 2003 and committed war crimes. Acquitted for lack of evidence at the initial trial, the Turko Court scored a first for Universal Jurisdiction by relocating to Liberia and Sierra Leone and interviewing over 80 witnesses. It was, however, unable to prove its theory.
While Massaquoi has been acquitted, his case remains one of the few cases in which Liberian civil war actors have faced a court on accusations of war crimes. In fact, the Finnish court's hearing in Liberia was the first time a trial on war crimes was held on Liberian soil. This is largely because the country has refused to prosecute any of its war criminals despite the fact that Liberia's civil wars left over 250,000 people dead and many more injured and displaced
Instead, the government has pursued justice largely through other mechanisms, most significantly memorialization via community justice strategies such as its Palava Hut System, which provides a space for victims and alleged perpetrators to confront the truth as a means of establishing a common ground for peace and reconciliation. However, Palava Hut hearings have no prosecutorial power and are only restricted to "lesser crimes" i.e. assaults, arson, destruction of property, forced displacement, looting, robbery, and extortion.
Foreign Courts and Universal Jurisdiction
Consequently, victims and non-governmental organisations like the Liberia-based Global Justice and Research Project (GJRP), and its Swiss based counterpart Civitas Maxima, have resorted to pursuing justice via foreign courts. However, foreign courts have only tried a fraction of the civil war actors.
In practice, the organisations research, investigate and document war crimes violations committed in Liberia by civil war actors who relocated abroad, and report these violations to the foreign governments where these war actors reside for prosecution.
In addressing these reports, foreign governments might choose to deport said war actors, or prosecute these war actors based on immigration fraud when they omit their war past from immigration documents.
Alternatively, foreign courts might also prosecute said war actors under the principle of Universal Jurisdiction, which allows states to prosecute perpetrators of international crimes who are on their territory, regardless of where the crimes may have been committed, or the nationality of the perpetrators and the victims.
For Aaron Weah, a Liberian researcher and a PhD candidate at Ulster University's Transitional Justice Institute, "the use of universal jurisdiction is largely done outside the influence of Liberia's national government and it is largely happening because Liberia's judicial system is weak and we don't have [the] political will to try our war criminals. The only advantage is that it keeps prosecution and justice on the [political] agenda back home. The more Liberians are tried on universal jurisdiction, [the more] it puts pressure on the national government to look more closely at civil war-era crimes back home."
His opinion is echoed by Tennen B Dalieh Tehoungue, a Liberian fellow at the Pan-African Reconciliation Network (PAREN) and a PhD candidate in Transitional Justice and Universal Jurisdiction at Dublin City University, who says: "Universal jurisdiction remains critical as a tool in enabling some aspects of criminal accountability that currently...would not be addressed by the Liberian government. However, a singular justice mechanism cannot address all the different facets of the Liberian crisis."
Political Will
It is worth mentioning that Liberia's refusal to try its war criminals has largely been due to a lack of political will. The political establishment's need to maintain its own political survival has undermined the fight against war crimes justice.
In 2009, Liberia instituted a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) "to promote national peace, security, unity and reconciliation" by investigating gross human rights violations, violations of humanitarian law, sexual violations, and economic crimes that had occurred during the armed conflicts.
As part of its final recommendations, the commission recommended amongst others things, the establishment of a special court for war crimes, memorialisation and the banning of 50 individuals including then President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf from political office. However, neither she nor her successor - the immediate former president, George Weah - were able to implement the TRC's key recommendations. They remain unimplemented.
Furthermore, this lack of political will is due in part to the fact that former war actors retained political power, even securing elected positions in post-war Liberia. Consequently, these former war actors have banked on their political power to push against the establishment of a war crimes court.
A notable example of this is Prince Johnson, a former warlord and now long-serving senator of Nimba County, Liberia's second most populous county. As electoral victory in Liberia's presidential elections is tied to political alliances, and given Johnson's influence in Nimba, every president in post-war Liberia has entered into an alliance with him to secure electoral victory. Johnson, who now carries the title 'kingmaker' in political circles, and has publicly declared over the years that he wouldn't support any candidate or president who aims to establish a war crimes court.
Additionally, in 2021, then president George Weah asked the senate to advise him on the implementation of the TRC recommendations. In their response, the Liberian Senate advised Weah to set up a Transitional Justice Commission that would analyse and investigate the findings of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). This commission was never formed.
With a new government taking office in 2024, optimists have pointed to increased political will in addressing war crimes. At his inauguration, President Joseph Boakai pledged to "set up an office to explore the feasibility for the establishment of War and Economic Crimes Court (WECC) to provide an opportunity for those who bear the greatest responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity to account for their actions in court". Last week, Liberia's National Legislature passed a resolution for the establishment of the War and Economic Crimes Court. While the resolution called for the executive to submit to the legislature for passage a framework to establish the court, Boakai is yet to release a statement on the resolution or to give a timeline as to when said framework will be submitted. It does not inspire confidence that some of his closest supporters have strongly intimated that the effort to set up a WEEC is going nowhere. Given all that, it is significant that Boakai managed to get the resolution passed in the powerful Senate, where the likes of Prince Johnson wield considerable influence.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Opposition to the establishment of the war crimes court have countered that the passage of time, cost of a court and the maintenance of Liberia's peace run counter to establishing said court, claiming there is a need for restorative and not retributive justice.
However supporters of the court like Weah, disagree: "The best transitional justice approach has been a combination of a range of different justice mechanisms coming together. It is not about retributive versus restorative justice. The recommendation of a war crimes court is still important but it is also [worth mentioning] that it is to work in tandem with other recommendation like the palava huts, reparations and memorialisation".
Dounard Bondo is a Liberia-based lawyer and journalist who usually covers stories on human rights, development, and politics with a focus on Liberia's post-war justice. In addition to his Law degree (LLB), Dounard also has a BSc in International law and diplomacy and a Masters degree in international maritime law.
