Liberia: Hassan Bility denies allegations of witness corruption in Massaquoi war crimes trial

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MONROVIA The man at the center of allegations of corruption and witness tampering in the ongoing war crimes trial of Gibril Massaquoi, spoke on Monday to refute the allegations.

Hassan Bility, director of the Liberian NGO, Global Justice Research Project (GJRP), which, along with Swiss partner Civitas Maxima, documented Mr. Massaquois’ alleged crimes during Liberia’s second civil war, said none of the Witness claims were not true.

Everything these witnesses have said is false and untrue intended to mislead the public, Mr Bility told the panel of four judges. I don’t need to bribe witnesses because there have been over 250,000 people who have died and they have many relatives willing to testify for free, so why should the GJRP bribe witnesses to testify? ? In addition, I do not have the power to grant asylum to anyone, nor does the GJRP have this power, as asylums are generally granted by governments and not by individuals. The US government, Europe, and Scotland Yard pay for airline tickets for witnesses, not the GJRP. There is also no organization in Ghana that grants asylum to anyone.

Three defense witnesses appeared in Finnish court, alleging that Mr Bility had trained them to lie about Mr Massaquoi and Agnes Taylor, who were charged and detained in the UK. They said Mr. Bility wanted them to testify that Mr. Massaquoi and Ms. Taylor committed human rights violations and promised to pay them US $ 15,000, to US $ 20,000 once they will have testified. The first witness testified that Bility gave him US $ 200 and promised to advance him $ 4,000 and pay him $ 16,000 and grant him asylum in a European country. The witness claimed to have refused to testify.

The second witness testified that Bility gave him US $ 20 and promised him US $ 15,000 and asylum in any European country of his choice. The third witness said Bility trained him to lie about seeing Ms Taylor kill and open people’s stomachs during the war. He said Bility had promised him US $ 16,000 and asylum for him and his family.

Mr. Bility testified in this trial and before the Special Court for Sierra Leone that Mr. Massaquoi tortured him.

The court ordered reporters to withhold the identities of witnesses to protect them from reprisals, but Mr Bility demanded that his name be made public. He spoke up and denied all the allegations.

When a witness is afraid to testify, we have a witness protection service to move the witness to Liberia and our agent is usually in communication with that witness. We tell witnesses that if they are going to testify, they should not tell anyone. And if there is a witness living outside Liberia who wants to testify, but there is a security risk, the witness will plead with the government of that county regarding the security risk, said Mr. Bility.

Asked by the defense team during cross-examination, if $ 15,000 to $ 20,000 was a lot of money to run his organization, he replied: vehicles and generator.

Mr Bility said his organization had a consent form given to witnesses and that the form had nothing to do with granting benefits to witnesses. But he pointed out that there was a part on the form that mentioned the housing salary. And the housing salary allows a witness coming from out of town to receive money for transport, food and shelter, as many people do not work in Liberia and cannot afford it. to come and testify for the GJRP.

When asked by the defense team to differentiate between a lie and a lie, Mr Bility replied confidently, saying that a lie is told out of ignorance, but stressed that the lie is an intention to deceive them. people.

Mr Bility was questioned about Alan White, the former chief investigator of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, to whom the three accusing defense witnesses admitted to speaking before the trial. Mr. Whites’ conduct in overseeing the Special Court’s investigation is called into question in this trial because many of the crimes Mr. Massaquoi is accused of allegedly took place in Liberia while Mr. Massaquoi was in a shelter in Sierra Leone under witness protection supervised by Mr. Blanche. Its communication with the witness may be considered a forgery of a witness.

I don’t know his role in this trial, but I saw Alan White at the Mamba Point hotel when I left Boston in 2004 to make a TV documentary after the murder of an American citizen in the hotel this year. “There,” Mr Bility told the court. . I was a witness at the Special Court and spoke with Mr. White by cell phone on several occasions, but I never discussed the Massaquoi case or any of our other cases with Mr. White.

Defense lawyer Kaarle Gummerus questioned Mr. Bility about his personal interactions with Mr. Massaquoi and a woman who allegedly tortured him on behalf of then-President Charles Taylor.

There were two people in the room during an instance of my torture – Massaquoi and a lady – but all of my torture was directed by Mr. Massaquoi, Mr. Bility told the court. He ordered the lady to take the wire from the wall and place it on my private parts and shock it. During the painful electrocution, it was Massaquoi who stood and asked me if I would admit things that I had not done. Mr. Massaquois’ mission was to make me say something that Taylor wanted me to say.

Mr Bility asked the court for time to respond to other charges that were raised, including that he was a member of the rebel group Ulimo. Mr Bility said he was a member of the Mandinka ethnicity and that his own people attack him because he did not want to be prosecuted. He said he believed they were instigating witnesses to lie against him in court.

My people have ganged up on me and are going through other people to attack my reputation, Mr Bility said. They believe that since Charles Taylor’s rebels committed atrocities against the Mandingo, it was therefore their right to form a rebel group to fight back and defend themselves. Therefore, they should not be prosecuted for the crimes they have committed. Our office has received many threats and there is a security risk against me, but when you work for justice you are always on your own.

A second prosecution witness, whose identity was withheld, worked with the GJRP but was later assigned to the Finnish police to recruit witnesses. He said he worked with the Finnish police to help find witnesses to testify in the ongoing Massaquoi trial.

I usually sit in Atayee centers to listen to people, he said of the meetinghouses where Liberians congregate. And when I hear someone telling an interesting story about the war, I walk over and ask them to meet the Finnish police. Once the person agrees, I pass it on to the Finnish police. That’s how I got most of the witnesses who testified.

During cross-examination of Mr Gummerus on the collection of names and phone numbers for the Finnish police, the witness said he used the information sheet as toilet paper when he visited Lofa , because he was not to share information.

The trial continues on Tuesday.

This story was a collaboration with New Narratives as part of the West Africa Justice Reporting Project.

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