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Sierra Leone: Acquittal of Massaquoi - Reality Check for Finnish Justice
JusticeInfo.net, 29 April 2022
What was supposed to be an innovative and exemplary judicial experiment has turned into an adventurous rush to conviction, with questionable investigative practices and fanciful… Read more »
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Liberia: Finnish Court Acquits Massaquoi of War Crimes Charges Over Lack of Sufficient Evidence
FrontPageAfrica, 2 May 2022
A court in Finland has acquitted Gibril Massaquoi, the former Revolutionary United Front commander in Sierra Leone, of all the charges in his year-long trial for war crimes and… Read more »
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Sierra Leone: Massaquoi Acquittal - What Has It Wrought?
JusticeInfo.net, 3 May 2022
Lansana Gberie, a renowned expert on the civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia, provides an exclusive analysis of the trial of Gibril Massaquoi before a Finnish court, and how it… Read more »
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Sierra Leone: Former Special Court Guard Tells War Crimes Court Massaquoi Escape Possible
FrontPageAfrica, 10 January 2022
After nearly a year of hearings, including five months in Liberia and Sierra Leone, the ground-breaking trial of Gibril Massaquoi, a Sierra Leonean rebel charged with committing… Read more »
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Liberia: Massaquoi Judge - "This Nation Needs to Deal With the Past"
FrontPageAfrica, 11 October 2021
On the final day of hearings in this second visit to Liberia by the Finnish court trying former rebel leader Gibril Massaquoi for war crimes, the head judge in the trial has… Read more »
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Liberia: Witness - Massaquoi Escaped Hours Before Arrest By Taylor
FrontPageAfrica, 22 September 2021
A witness at the ongoing war crimes trial of ex-Sierra Leonean rebel leader Gibril Massaquoi has told the Finnish court hearing the case that then Liberian President Charles Taylor… Read more »
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Liberia: 'Gibril Massaquoi Spied On Taylor' - Witness Tells Finnish Court
FrontPageAfrica, 22 September 2021
A witness at the ongoing war crimes trial of ex-Sierra Leonean rebel leader, Gibril Massaquoi has told the Finnish court hearing the case that Massaquoi was a spy on the then… Read more »
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Liberia: Court Hears Gibril Massaquoi Did Not Leave Sierra Leone in 2003
FrontPageAfrica, 30 September 2021
A former member of the witness protection unit of the UN backed Special Court for Sierra Leone has told judges in the ongoing war crimes trial of Gibril Massaquoi, the former… Read more »
Finnish Court Acquits Warlord of Crimes In Sierra Leone, Liberia
A court in Finland has acquitted Gibril Massaquoi, the former Revolutionary United Front commander in Sierra Leone, of all the charges in his year-long trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity during Liberia's civil war between 1999-2003.
Kaarle Gummerus, Massaquoi's lawyer, said he was "extremely relieved" by the judgement and is now waiting to see whether the prosecution decides to appeal the decision.
Tom Laitinen, chief prosecutor in the trial said his team will consider an appeal. Under Finnish law, the prosecution must lodge an appeal within a week of the verdict and then complete the appeal process three weeks later.
Massaquoi's trial, while affirming the presumption of innocence, is a painful lesson for the practice of universal jurisdiction writes Thierry Cruvellier for Justice Info.Net.
