By Our Staff Writer
“This Court (Supreme Court) shares the blame for the more than 250,000 people that were killed in Liberia during the civil conflict,” said Liberia’s former Solicitor General and now President of the Liberia National Bar Association, Cllr. Tiawan Gongloe at the opening of the March Term of the Supreme Court in Monrovia on Monday.
Responding to the Opening Address of current Chief Justice Francis Korkpor at the Temple of Justice, Cllr. Gongloe urged the current bench “not to allow itself to be similarly judged in the future.”
A 2010 report by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that investigated the root causes of the 14 years of civil conflict in Liberia identified injustice as one of the triggers of the Liberian civil war.
The President of the Bar stressed: “We must always remind ourselves, that Had this Court play its part well, in the past, Liberia would not have descended into conflict.”
According to Cllr. Gongloe, the Court is “the only source of hope for the survival of our democracy and the sustenance of peace and security in our country. “
He therefore said the LNBA under his leadership “will support and cooperate with your honors as long as you perform your duty as the custodian of our democracy, peace and security.
LNBA will work with Bench
The President of the Bar Association has assured the Supreme Court and members of the Judiciary of their “willingness and preparedness to support and cooperate with the Bench and the entire judiciary in its effort to execute its constitutional mandate of doing justice to all parties without any form of discrimination. In this effort we see no alternative or option.”
He stressed the need for “mutual support, cooperation and respect are necessary conditions that both the bench and the bar must remain mindful of at all times.”
“In this regard,” Cllr. Gongloe said, “we plead with the bench to curtail the frequent threats of detention of lawyers by some judges of the lower courts, most often, in the performance of their duties as lawyers.”
Eyebrows raised over “frequent threats of arrest of Lawyers” by Liberian Judges
But the Bar Association’s President called for protection of lawyers under article 21(i) of the Constitution of Liberia,which provides, “… no lawyer shall be prevented from or punished for providing legal services, regardless of the charges against or the guilt of his client.”
He then claimed that there is a wave of threats against of arrest of Lawyers by Judges of lower courts, a practice he said should stop.
“A lawyer should be referred to the Grievance and Ethics Committee where his/her conduct is considered by a judge to be contrary to any provision of the Code of Ethics Governing the Practice of Law in Liberia.”
Cllr. Gongloe added that: “Such threats and intimidation demean, not only the lawyer that is the subject of the threat and intimidation, but tend to cast aspersion on the entire legal profession.”
He then urged judges of Liberia’s lower courts “to do the same and we seek the support and cooperation of the Bench in this regard.”