An ex-military, former officer of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), was charged on Wednesday, September 13, 2023, in Paris for crimes against humanity during the 1990s civil war in Liberia, as learned by AFP on Friday, September 15.
This man, born in 1965, who had been living in France for over 20 years and was working in a bar in the east of the country, is accused of violence and torture, both in his own name and possibly as an accomplice. These acts are said to have been committed in Liberia between March 1, 1994, and August 1996, according to sources cited by the press agency.
His placement in provisional detention had been requested.
He has been placed under judicial supervision against the opinion of the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office, which had requested his placement in provisional detention. “The guarantees of representation from my client and the age of the acts outweighed the severity of the charges,” said his lawyer, Me Margaux Van Der Have, interviewed by AFP.
With 250,000 deaths between 1989 and 2003, the civil war in Liberia was one of the deadliest conflicts on the African continent. No trials have been held in Liberia to date for the atrocities committed in the country, but several have taken place abroad.
