PHOTO: Police IG Sudue speaking with Reporters as he left the courtroom
By Garmah Never Lomo, garmahlomo@gmail.com
TEMPLE OF JUSTICE, Monrovia- Following a writ of arrest issued last Thursday, the Sixth Judicial Civil Law Court ‘A’ has now quashed the arrest order against the Inspector General (IG) of the Liberia National Police, Patrick Sudue.
The writ of was quashed early this week, following a closed door conference held in the Judge’s chambers between both the Police Inspector General and the head of the Independent National Commission on Human Rights, Cllr. Dempster Brown.
During the conference, Police IG Sudue said he honored the writ of arrest given and that the court is the only body authorized to interpret the law and if they want clarity on something, he must obey.
According to him, the Human Rights commission wrote him and he replied which led the INCHR boss issuing numerous press releases and appearing on radio talk show.
“I set the record straight by telling my side of the story and likewise the INCHR boss which led the Judge to quashed the writ of arrest against me,” police IG Sudue said.
On last Thursday, the Sixth Judicial Civil Law Court A presided over by Judge Nancy F. Sammy issued a writ of arrest against Liberia’s Police Inspector General Patrick Sudue for his failure to appear before the INCHR for inquiry into the July 26 Independence Day Fix the country protest organized by Students Unification Party.
The Judge’s order is based on a complaint filed to the court by the independent National Commission on Human Rights headed by Cllr. P. Dumpster Brown who alleged that the IG had failed to appear BWI the Commission whose objective was to establish the scale, magnitude and gravity of the situation as it relates to human rights violations.
In the complaint filed to the court, the INCHR stated that the IG had refused to honor their invite to come before it inorder to provide information about their role played on the violence that took place on July 26 near the US embassy, in order to advise the government and stakeholders but the police IG had refused.
According to the INCHR, it is their role as a human rights organization backed by Article 6(I) of the Liberian constitution which gives the commission the right to investigate into complaints, and is clothed with the powers to subpoenaed those accused of human rights violations, based upon complaints from aggrieved parties.
It can be recalled that some members of the National police were suspended for their failure to control the violence that erupted on July 26, that led to a member of the Student Unification Party (SUP) being tortured, and brutally beaten.
The SUP member, according to reports sustained injuries and has been in critical condition since the incident.
However, in the Police response to the INCHR invite noted that the Liberia National Police is the highest established security institution by law thus they have an internal disciplinary review board responsible to investigate.
He furthered that the Professional Standards Department is responsible to discipline based on proceedings within their jurisdiction.
“We cannot subject our officers to any form of investigation by the independent National Commission on Human Rights as requested”
The Police has however arrested and charged those believed to be members of the Congress for Democratic Change Council of Patriots who were involved in the incident that took place during the July 26 Independence Day.