As Liberian Senate Concurs With House Of Representatives On War And Economic Crimes Court Resolution
PHOTO: President Joe Boakai seems determined to bring perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity to justice
By Our Staff Writer
A highly placed and top government source has told www.newspublictrust.com that President Joseph Nyuma Boakai is poised to officially and formally sign the legal documents for the establishment of a war and economic crimes court in Liberia tomorrow, Friday, April 19, 2024.
The source said an official program will be held in Monrovia and is expected to be broadcast live on radio and television.
President Boakai, who came to power on January 22 this year and had previously served as Vice President under former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for 12 years up to 2017, has put as one of his priority accountability for war and economic crimes during his administration.
Since the end of 14 years of brutal civil war in Liberia in 2003, neither the past Sirleaf and George Weah’s governments have given the greenlight to the international community for the establishment of a war and economic crimes court to bring perpetrators of atrocities to justice. Some 250, 000 people were killed in the country’s civil war that started on December 24, 1989.
Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) had since 1020 recommended the prosecution of former warlords and those who bear the greatest responsibilities for war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Liberian war years.
The United States government has in recent times given their full backing to the Boakai government on the setting up of a war crimes court, something the Americans had not been keen on during the 12 years rule of ex-President Sirleaf.
Meanwhile, the Liberian Senate today endorsed a communication from the House of Representatives informing it of concurring with on the Joint Ressolution seeking the establishment of two separate courts including an Extraordinary Criminal Court and Domestic Corruption Court for war and Economic crimes, a statement from the Senate said today, Thursday, April 19, 2024.
The Senate Press Release quotes the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives, Mildred Siryon as saying that, the House of Representatives endorsed in totality the Liberian Senate’s amendment to House Joint Resolution #JR 001/2024 of the Senate and the Republic of Liberia.
The Joint Resolution points to the mechanism for the establishment of the two courts. It can be recalled that the Liberian Senate recently amended and passed the Joint Resolution and sought the Concurrence of the House of Representatives on the establishment of the two courts on the Liberian soil instead of one Court, the war and Economic Crime Court, says Signed: Alfred Johnson, Director of Press and Public Affairs at the Senate.