{"id":29073,"date":"2022-12-25T16:20:01","date_gmt":"2022-12-25T16:20:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes"},"modified":"2022-12-25T16:43:39","modified_gmt":"2022-12-25T16:43:39","slug":"liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes","title":{"rendered":"Liberia: Finnish Appeal Court Orders Retrial of former RUF Commander for War Crimes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Liberia. <\/strong><\/span>A Finnish court has ordered that Gibril Massaquoi, a former commander for Sierra Leone\u2019s Revolutionary United Front (RUF), be retried over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Liberia. Massaquoi was acquitted of the charges in his first trial after judges found prosecutors had not proved his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.<\/p>\n

The retrial will start in the Finnish city of Turku in January 2023. Just as the district court in the city of Tampere did in Massaquoi\u2019s first trial, the appeal court will travel to Liberia and Sierra Leone to hear witness testimonies. The court spent months in the two countries in 2021 hearing testimonies and visiting the scenes of the alleged crimes.<\/p>\n

Judges in the appeal case expect to begin hearings in Liberia in February. The chief prosecutor in the case said he was keen to take advantage of the opportunity to prove the case this time around.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are grateful that we will have a second chance to prove our case,\u201d said Tom<\/p>\n

Laitinen, the chief prosecutor, in a WhatsApp message. \u201cIt remains to be seen how the court of appeal will evaluate the evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first trial ran for 16 months \u2013 far longer than the trials of others accused of atrocities in Liberia\u2019s civil wars in Europe and the United States. \u201cWe are more eager than exhausted,\u201d said Laitinen. \u201cWe wanted the appeal, and we got it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaarle Gummerus, Massaquoi\u2019s lead lawyer didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment sent by WhatsApp.<\/p>\n

In an 850-page ruling issued in May, the District Court said prosecutors had failed to prove \u201cbeyond a reasonable doubt\u201d that Massaquoi, 52, sneaked out of a Freetown \u201csafe house\u201d where he was being protected by the then UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, because he was serving as an informant against leading RUF figures including then Liberian president Charles Taylor. Taylor was later convicted for his role in Sierra Leone\u2019s conflict and is serving a 50-year sentence in a UK prison.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege Massaquoi sneaked out of the safehouse and traveled to Liberia to lead combatants on behalf of Taylor in Monrovia in 2003. He is also accused of leading combatants on behalf of Taylor in Lofa County in the years prior to that. Prosecutors accuse Massaquoi of committing crimes including rape, ritual murder, torture and recruitment of child soldiers.<\/p>\n

But Massaquoi\u2019s lawyers argued that he was not in Liberia when the crimes were committed and that it was impossible for him to have left the safe house because it was fully secured. There was also doubt cast upon the prosecution case that Massaquoi had gone by \u201cAngel Gabriel\u201d as numerous Liberian witnesses claimed.<\/p>\n

The trial also brought intense scrutiny of the role of Civitas Maxima, the Swiss based human rights organization and the Global Justice and Research Project, (GJRP) its Liberian partner, which have documented the alleged crimes of all perpetrators indicted for actions in Liberia. Massaquoi\u2019s lawyers presented several witnesses who claimed they were offered bribes by GJRP staff. Both organizations denied the accusations. In turn prosecutors alleged that Alan White, the American former chief investigator for the Special Court, had been coaching those witnesses.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Liberia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Liberia. A Finnish court has ordered that Gibril Massaquoi, a former commander for Sierra Leone\u2019s Revolutionary United Front (RUF), be retried over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Liberia. Massaquoi was acquitted of the charges in his first trial after judges found prosecutors had not proved his guilt beyond a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":29072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-29073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-liberia","tag-liberia"],"yoast_head":"\nLiberia: Finnish Appeal Court Orders Retrial of former RUF Commander for War Crimes - Liberia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Finnish court has ordered that Gibril Massaquoi, a former commander for Sierra Leone\u2019s Revolutionary United Front (RUF ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Liberia: Finnish Appeal Court Orders Retrial of former RUF Commander for War Crimes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Finnish court has ordered that Gibril Massaquoi, a former commander for Sierra Leone\u2019s Revolutionary United Front (RUF ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Liberia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-25T16:20:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-25T16:43:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671972630.86.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"538\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Liberia: Finnish Appeal Court Orders Retrial of former RUF Commander for War Crimes\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-25T16:20:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-25T16:43:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes\"},\"wordCount\":555,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671972630.86.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Liberia\",\"Liberia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes\",\"name\":\"Liberia: Finnish Appeal Court Orders Retrial of former RUF Commander for War Crimes - Liberia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671972630.86.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-25T16:20:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-25T16:43:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"A Finnish court has ordered that Gibril Massaquoi, a former commander for Sierra Leone\u2019s Revolutionary United Front (RUF ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671972630.86.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671972630.86.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":538,\"caption\":\"Liberia: Finnish Appeal Court Orders Retrial of former RUF Commander for War Crimes\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Liberia: Finnish Appeal Court Orders Retrial of former RUF Commander for War Crimes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/\",\"name\":\"Liberia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Liberia: Finnish Appeal Court Orders Retrial of former RUF Commander for War Crimes - Liberia","description":"A Finnish court has ordered that Gibril Massaquoi, a former commander for Sierra Leone\u2019s Revolutionary United Front (RUF ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Liberia: Finnish Appeal Court Orders Retrial of former RUF Commander for War Crimes","og_description":"A Finnish court has ordered that Gibril Massaquoi, a former commander for Sierra Leone\u2019s Revolutionary United Front (RUF ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes","og_site_name":"Liberia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2022-12-25T16:20:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-12-25T16:43:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":538,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671972630.86.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Liberia: Finnish Appeal Court Orders Retrial of former RUF Commander for War Crimes","datePublished":"2022-12-25T16:20:01+00:00","dateModified":"2022-12-25T16:43:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes"},"wordCount":555,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671972630.86.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Liberia","Liberia"],"articleSection":["all news","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes","name":"Liberia: Finnish Appeal Court Orders Retrial of former RUF Commander for War Crimes - Liberia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671972630.86.jpg","datePublished":"2022-12-25T16:20:01+00:00","dateModified":"2022-12-25T16:43:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"A Finnish court has ordered that Gibril Massaquoi, a former commander for Sierra Leone\u2019s Revolutionary United Front (RUF ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671972630.86.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1671972630.86.jpg","width":1024,"height":538,"caption":"Liberia: Finnish Appeal Court Orders Retrial of former RUF Commander for War Crimes"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/liberia-finnish-appeal-court-orders-retrial-of-former-ruf-commander-for-war-crimes#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Liberia: Finnish Appeal Court Orders Retrial of former RUF Commander for War Crimes"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/","name":"Liberia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}