{"id":35833,"date":"2023-05-05T12:21:25","date_gmt":"2023-05-05T12:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/finnish-appeal-court-returns-to-hear-from-accused-sierra-leonean-rebels-witnesses"},"modified":"2023-05-05T12:37:37","modified_gmt":"2023-05-05T12:37:37","slug":"finnish-appeal-court-returns-to-hear-from-accused-sierra-leonean-rebels-witnesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/finnish-appeal-court-returns-to-hear-from-accused-sierra-leonean-rebels-witnesses","title":{"rendered":"Finnish Appeal Court Returns to Hear from Accused Sierra Leonean Rebel\u2019s Witnesses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Liberia. <\/strong><\/span>A Finnish appeal court is returning to Liberia this week after a brief return to Finland, to hear testimony from witnesses for a Sierra Leonean man accused of grave human rights violations in Liberia\u2019s civil war. Finnish prosecutors have accused Gibril Massaquoi, the former leader with the Sierra Leonean rebel group the Revolutionary United Front, of traveling to Liberia to fight on behalf of the RUF\u2019s ally, embattled then-president Charles Taylor.<\/p>\n

A district court acquitted Masssaquoi of the charges in 2022 finding that prosecutors did not prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Prosecutors have appealed that decision. The Turku Court of Appeal is expected to hear from eleven witnesses over the next week. Hearings start Friday.<\/p>\n

The witnesses are coming to Liberia from Sierra Leone because the Sierra Leonean government did not grant the Finnish court access to the country. This comes despite Sierra Leone\u2019s decision to host hearings of the earlier district court trial in 2021.<\/p>\n

Kimmo Vanne, Presiding Judge of the Appeal Court told this reporter by WhatsApp that the issue has been \u201cundesirable, as it has not been possible for the parties to ask these witnesses any further questions.\u201d Judge Vanne said that the issue has also been strenuous and has caused the Finnish government \u201cmore expenses related to the travels of the witnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Liberian government surprised some court observers by allowing both courts to operate in the country despite concerns their presence might strengthen demands by justice activists that the government hold a war crimes court to try those accused of the worst atrocities. There were also concerns about the security of witnesses. Both Finnish courts have said that witness intimidation has not been a problem to their knowledge.<\/p>\n

When it acquitted Massaquoi the District Court said prosecutors did not meet the burden of proof required \u2013 \u201cbeyond a reasonable doubt\u201d \u2013 that he committed the crimes, including ordering or committing mass murders himself, looting and rape. Prosecutors also did not convince the Court of the extraordinary charge that Massaquoi, whom many witnesses have also identified as \u201cAngel Gabriel\u201d, escaped a Freetown safehouse of the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone to come to Liberia to commit the crimes between June and August in 2003.<\/p>\n

But prosecutors have countered that the Court got it wrong. They\u2019ve lined up many witnesses to bolster their argument.<\/p>\n

The marathon trial will finally come to an end in June, with closing arguments set to begin on June 5th.<\/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 appeal court is returning to Liberia this week after a brief return to Finland, to hear testimony from witnesses for a Sierra Leonean man accused of grave human rights violations in Liberia\u2019s civil war. Finnish prosecutors have accused Gibril Massaquoi, the former leader with the Sierra Leonean rebel group the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":35832,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-35833","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":"\nFinnish Appeal Court Returns to Hear from Accused Sierra Leonean Rebel\u2019s Witnesses - Liberia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Finnish appeal court is returning to Liberia this week after a brief return to Finland, to hear testimony from witness ...\" \/>\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\/finnish-appeal-court-returns-to-hear-from-accused-sierra-leonean-rebels-witnesses\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Finnish Appeal Court Returns to Hear from Accused Sierra Leonean Rebel\u2019s Witnesses\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Finnish appeal court is returning to Liberia this week after a brief return to Finland, to hear testimony from witness ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/finnish-appeal-court-returns-to-hear-from-accused-sierra-leonean-rebels-witnesses\" \/>\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=\"2023-05-05T12:21:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-05T12:37:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2023\/05\/postQueueImg_1683273221.21.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1179\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"772\" \/>\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=\"2 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\/finnish-appeal-court-returns-to-hear-from-accused-sierra-leonean-rebels-witnesses#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/finnish-appeal-court-returns-to-hear-from-accused-sierra-leonean-rebels-witnesses\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Finnish Appeal Court Returns to Hear from Accused Sierra Leonean Rebel\u2019s Witnesses\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-05T12:21:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-05T12:37:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/finnish-appeal-court-returns-to-hear-from-accused-sierra-leonean-rebels-witnesses\"},\"wordCount\":434,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/finnish-appeal-court-returns-to-hear-from-accused-sierra-leonean-rebels-witnesses#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/liberia\/sites\/37\/2023\/05\/postQueueImg_1683273221.21.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\/finnish-appeal-court-returns-to-hear-from-accused-sierra-leonean-rebels-witnesses#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/finnish-appeal-court-returns-to-hear-from-accused-sierra-leonean-rebels-witnesses\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/liberia\/all-news\/finnish-appeal-court-returns-to-hear-from-accused-sierra-leonean-rebels-witnesses\",\"name\":\"Finnish Appeal Court Returns to Hear from Accused Sierra Leonean Rebel\u2019s Witnesses - 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