ADVERTISEMENT
  • The Membership Club
  • PT Hausa
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
Saturday, February 27, 2021
Premium Times Nigeria
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Features
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Markets
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • Parliament Watch
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Features
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Markets
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • Parliament Watch
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
Premium Times Nigeria
BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad
ADVERTISEMENT
Gibril Massaquoi in opening day at the Pirkanmaa District Court in Tampere, Finland. Saila Huusko/New Narratives

Gibril Massaquoi in opening day at the Pirkanmaa District Court in Tampere, Finland. Saila Huusko/New Narratives

War Crimes Trial: Prosecution accuses Massaquoi of trying to influence witnesses

Sierra Leonean Gibril Massaquoi, 51, is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity

bySaila HuuskoandNew Narratives
February 6, 2021
3 min read
ADVERTISEMENT

Prosecutors in the war crimes trial of Gibril Massaquoi alleged Friday that the defendant tried to influence witnesses in the case. State Prosecutor Tom Laitinen told presiding judge Juhani Paiho that a cleaner at the prison where Mr Massaquoi was being held in pretrial detention found handwritten notes in the restroom of the family meeting area, following a meeting Mr Massaquoi had with family on September 30.

“It turned out that these notes were written by Massaquoi and contained detailed instructions for the witnesses on the case,” Mr Laitinen said. The notes were submitted into evidence with the police pre-trial investigation materials which totalled 3800 pages.

Mr Massaquoi’s lawyer Kaarle Gummerus dismissed the importance of these notes, arguing that his client had been in a state of panic at the time, and that the intention of the notes was to remind people of the events in the early 2000s, not to ask them to lie.

The final day of the first week of the trial in Pirkanmaa District Court in the Finnish city of Tampere was dominated by Mr Massaquoi’s defence. Lead lawyer Gummerus said the case relied heavily on written evidence – news articles, United Nations reports, the 2009 report by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia (TRC) Report, and other documents that Gummerus said paint a picture of a man who had no reason – or time – to be involved in atrocities in Liberia.

“We want to bring the entire context to for everyone to see, to show there are many moving parts,” Mr Gummerus said.

Sierra Leonean Gibril Massaquoi, 51, is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder and aggravated rape, allegedly committed during the second Liberian Civil War between 1999 and 2003. A former colonel and spokesman in the Sierra Leonian rebel group the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), Mr Massaquoi was an informant in the case brought against Liberia’s former president Charles Taylor at the Special Court for Sierra Leone which eventually convicted Mr Taylor and several other top leaders. Mr Massaquoi moved to Finland in 2008 after the Northern European country signed a law allowing the settlement of informants such as him.

The prosecution against Mr Massaquoi relies on testimonies gathered during the pre-trial investigation carried out by Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in between 2018 and 2020. The NBI was initially alerted of Mr Massaquoi’s alleged past by Swiss NGO Civitas Maxima and its Liberia-based sister organization, the Global Justice and Research Project (GJRP).

On Thursday, Mr Massaquoi’s defense lawyers argued that these organizations may have played a role in influencing witnesses’ narratives. “We ask the court to consider how the witnesses have become involved in the investigation,” the defensce lawyers said. “It appears that the majority of them are either directly or indirectly involved with either Civitas Maxima or the GJRP.”

On Friday, the prosecution rejected these claims, saying that witnesses were also found by NBI investigators. “There are 55 individuals who were found entirely independently of these organizations,” prosecutor Laitinen said. “We plan on hearing 20 of those witnesses in this trial.”

RelatedNews

Liberia War Crimes: Inconsistent testimonies plague Massaquoi trial

War Crimes Trial: Witnesses tell court Massaquoi killed families

Kosiah defence witness refuses to leave Switzerland, says his life in danger

Massaquoi war crimes trial opens in Liberia

The narratives of Mr Massaquoi’s alleged involvement in committing and overseeing atrocities are consistent, Mr Laitinen said. “Regardless of what way the witnesses were found, the common factor is that their stories of Massaquoi’s guilt are very similar,” he said.

Friday was the first day in the trial to feature direct questioning between prosecution and defence, with both interjecting to question the other’s evidence.

Defence lawyers argued that newspaper stories submitted into evidence show that Mr Massaquoi was not in Liberia at the time of the alleged crimes. They also said the absence of Mr Massaquoi’s name in the extensive testimonies that made up the 2009 Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report showed that he could not have committed the crimes.

Dangote adbanner 728x90_2 (1)

The prosecution challenged the trustworthiness of the media stories that the defense was relying on to establish that Mr Massaquoi was not in Liberia when the alleged crimes took place. Prosecutor Laitinen repeatedly questioned the validity of the media reports, saying that a number of them could have involved journalists not seeing Mr Massaquoi in person, meaning that he could have been anywhere when those interviews were done.

The trial will continue on Monday with the second part of the defence’s written evidence. Mr Massaquoi will testify later in the week. After two weeks, the court will move to Liberia and Sierra Leone to hear witnesses there.

This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the West Africa Justice Reporting Project

  • WhatsApp
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • Telegram
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pocket

Support PREMIUM TIMES' journalism of integrity and credibility

Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy, and a transparent government.

For continued free access to the best investigative journalism in the country we ask you to consider making a modest support to this noble endeavour.

By contributing to PREMIUM TIMES, you are helping to sustain a journalism of relevance and ensuring it remains free and available to all.

Donate


TEXT AD: To advertise here . Call Willie +2347088095401...


JOIN THE CONVERSATION

  • Disqus (0)
premiumtimes



PT Mag Campaign AD

Previous Post

Nigeria misses out as WHO allocates Pfizer vaccines to four African countries

Next Post

No going back on indefinite strike – UNILAG non-academic staff

Saila Huusko

Saila Huusko

New Narratives

New Narratives

More News

Ali Modu Sheriff

I will contest APC chairmanship if zoned to North-east – Modu Sheriff

February 27, 2021
COVID-19 vaccine vials [PHOTO CREDIT: BioWorld]

Which is best COVID-19 vaccine?

February 27, 2021
Former President Goodluck Jonathan

Jonathan bags African peace award

February 27, 2021
FIFA President, Gianni Infantino

FIFA President meets Benin leaders over school football, others

February 26, 2021
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu

2023: ‘Young professionals’ donate N10m for Tinubu presidency

February 26, 2021
A back view of Samuel Akinbodewa, the 77-year-old father of the detained woman and his two grandchildren.

Lagos govt moves to free woman jailed six years without trial

February 26, 2021
Next Post
University of Lagos (UNILAG). [Photo credit: Students Nigeria]

No going back on indefinite strike - UNILAG non-academic staff

Atiku Abubakar (Photo Credit: Channels TV)

Atiku urges reversal of cryptocurrency policy

Discussion about this post

Search

#EndSARS: Latest Updates




Polaris Bank


JAIZ Ad


NITDA Ad





Glo Ad

Subscribe to News via Email

Enter your email address and receive notifications of news by email.

Join 1,625,869 other subscribers.

Advertisement






netherland biz school Advert

Zenith Advert
ADVERTISEMENT

Our Digital Network

  • PT Hausa
  • Election Centre
  • Human Trafficking Investigation
  • Centre for Investigative Journalism
  • National Conference
  • Press Attack Tracker
  • PT Academy
  • Dubawa
  • LeaksNG
  • Campus Reporter

Resources

  • Oil & Gas Facts
  • List of Universities in Nigeria
  • LIST: Federal Unity Colleges in Nigeria
  • NYSC Orientation Camps in Nigeria
  • Nigeria’s Federal/States’ Budgets since 2005
  • Malabu Scandal Thread
  • World Cup 2018
  • Panama Papers Game
  • Our Digital Network
  • About Us
  • Resources
  • Projects
  • Data & Infographics
  • DONATE

All content is Copyrighted © 2020 The Premium Times, Nigeria

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Features
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Markets
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • Parliament Watch
    • AGAHRIN
  • Opinion
  • PT Hausa
  • The Membership Club
  • Dubawa
    • Dubawa NG
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • Digital Store
  • DONATE

All content is Copyrighted © 2020 The Premium Times, Nigeria

Our website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.