-And take hasty decisions
By Garmah Never Lomo,garmahlomo@gmail.com
The president of the Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA), Cllr. Tiawan Gongloe has urged State Prosecutors not to give in to pressure from any quarter and take hasty decisions.
‘No amount of pressure should make to take hasty decisions whether from government, Ministry of Justice, public sentiment, and street protests without having their possession admissible into evidence.
Cllr. made the call at the first national conference of the National Association of Prosecutors of Liberia, the Ministry of Justice earlier this week.
The LNBA president added that prosecution should not prosecute anyone accused of a crime without being in possession of admissible evidence which is the standard for credible prosecution both in domestic and international courts.
Cllr. Gongloe further stated that prosecution of a well-known perpetrator of crime without conviction due to the lack of admissible evidence, which lead the public to sometimes believe that either the prosecutor was bribed or the court or jury was bribed.
This, he said undermines public confidence in the entire criminal justice system as an effective mechanism for curbing impunity.
Speaking further, the LNBA boss disclosed that if a prosecution actually receive a bribe or for other corrupt motive, ignores admissible evidence and conceals same and enters a Nolle Prosequi on the pretence of lack of evidence.
He therefore called on state prosecutors to at all times avoid the temptation of engaging in corruption or prosecute without admissible evidence.
These two essential controlling factors that must always guard a prosecutor in order to be effective in curbing the culture of impunity are sustaining the peace through the prosecution of person accused committing crimes, the Liberian Bar Association President noted.
Cllr. Gongloe expressed the hope that whenever a perpetrator goes unpunished because the state did not present admissible evidence against him, instead of curbing impunity, the state is promoting impunity, which creates lack of public confidence in the criminal justice system.
As a result, such a situation leads some citizens to take the law into their own hands and create a breakdown of law and order.
For his part, Cllr. E. Boikai Harvey explained the workings of the ECOWAS court as topic given to discuss said when the court was established, it only used to interpret community cases.
Cllr. Harvey disclosed that the court was established to handle Human Rights issues or state crimes at the community level.
He stated that the court has five Judges and the tenure is four years and the court has three branches namely secretarial, Executive and Paliment. Explaining on how the court works said when the Justices are selected, they elect their own president.
Cllr Havery also said the court has Registrar which other courts called Clerk and also a Director of Finance.
The Counsellor-at-Law disclosed that the court has three languages English, French and Portuguese which has an interpreter and transmitter center.
He added that to go to ECOWAS court you simply filed your application and party appearing before the court say what they want and who they are. A case before the court should be against the state or Human Rights.
Various topics were discussed during the National Association of Prosecutors conference by presenters, who deliberated on Assets Recovery Initiative, trafficking in person, Anti-corruption and Public corruption, the workings of the ECOWAS court, Cyber Crimes, Indictment writing and writing of Appellate brief.
The conference was held under the theme, Curbing the Culture of Impunity.