Hearings set to begin in landmark Liberia war crimes trial

A Finnish court was due to start hearing testimony on Tuesday in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, an AFP journalist said in an unprecedented war crimes trial in the country.

The court is in the West African state for a case against Gibril Massaquoi, a former senior member of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a Sierra Leonean rebel group who also fought in Liberia.

Massaquoi, a Sierra Leonean national, has lived in Finland since 2008 but was arrested there in March last year after a rights-based NGO investigated his war toll.

A case against the 51-year-old man then began on February 3 in this northern European country, where he is accused of responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed between 1999 and 2003.

But in a landmark move, Finnish judges are also hearing evidence on Liberian soil – the first time war crimes prosecutions have taken place in the country.

About a quarter of a million people were killed between 1989 and 2003 in a conflict marked by brutal violence and rape, often perpetrated by child soldiers.

Finnish court documents consulted by AFP detail a litany of accusations of abuse committed or ordered by Massaquoi, including murder, rape, torture, enslavement and use of child soldiers.

Liberia. By Valentina BRESCHI (AFP)

Very few people have been tried for war crimes committed in Liberia, and none inside the country.

Thomas Elfgren, a Finnish lead investigator associated with the case, called the proceedings “historic”.

He clarified that they are not, however, comparable to an international tribunal.

“At the end of the day, it’s a Finnish court that will make a decision in Finland,” Elfgren said.

Finnish law allows the prosecution of serious crimes committed abroad by a citizen or resident.

There are regular calls for a war crimes tribunal in Liberia itself, but some former warlords remain powerful figures in a poor country of 5 million people.

President George Weah has so far resisted appeals.

An official close to the Finnish case told AFP that the court will question three witnesses on Tuesday at an undisclosed location in Monrovia.

Hearings are expected to continue for several weeks, at a rate of around 10 witnesses per week, according to the official, who added that the testimony would likely be heartbreaking.