The Liberian war crimes appeal trial begins in Finland
Suspected warlord Gibril Massaquoi appeared in a Finnish appeals court on Tuesday accused of atrocities in the Liberian civil war after he was acquitted by a lower court last year.
The trial took place in the city of Turku, about 170 kilometers west of Helsinki.
For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or through the app.
Massaquoi, who moved to Finland in 2008, is accused of murder, rape and war crimes.
The first day of the trial was to include decisions about witness confidentiality and case presentation by both the prosecution and Massaquoi’s defense.
The trial will later move to Liberia and Sierra Leone to hear witness statements before returning to Finland.
The main trial will start in Turku in January 2023 and will continue in Liberia for about two months from the beginning of February, the Court of Appeal of Turku said.
The Finnish district court acquitted Massaquoi of the charge in April 2022.
It ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove with sufficient certainty that he was involved in the crimes that took place in the later years of Liberia’s second civil war.
The impoverished West African nation plunged into the first war, fought from 1989 to 1998, followed by another, from 1999 to 2003. According to some estimates, as many as a quarter of a million people died.
Massaquoi was arrested in Finland in 2020 after a human rights organization investigated his war record, and was held for about two years awaiting trial.
The district court ordered his release in February pending the April verdict, when he was acquitted.
Finnish prosecutors appealed the sentence.
Massaquoi was a senior commander of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a Sierra Leonean rebel group that previously fought in Liberia.
He denies all charges, claiming he was not in Liberia when the alleged crimes took place.
The Court of Appeal of Turku announced that it will hear witnesses in Liberia in February and Sierra Leone in May, before returning to Finland by June 5.
Read more:
“Heavy, bloody fighting” in Ukraine’s Soledar: Wagner’s boss
Spain returns two women, 13 children from ISIS camps in Syria