Washington – The US-based Globe Afrique, a subsidiary of the acclaimed research, communications and investment management firm, Kennedy & Williams, is reporting that President George Weah and his Major for the country’s most populous city, Monrovia, Jefferson Koijee, risk being prosecuted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), on the charge of election violence.
According to the online media platform and magazine, Globe Afrique.com, Liberia is slowly inching towards state-sponsored terrorism and violence against its citizens, indicating that recent activities and statements coming from leaders of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC), particularly, Major Koijee, when he stated, “Make no mistake to think that because we bear certain titles or bear certain space in government, that position has taken from us our true identity,” are deemed state-sponsored atrocities and terrorism.
Koijee, who is also chairman of the ruling party’s Youth League, is on record to have made several strong post-elections remarks in the wake of results being announced in the country just-ended Montserrado County Senate and District #15 House of Representatives by-elections, averring at some point that “…any day that would be announced by anyone (referring to protesters), we want to say to you that similar day would be announced by us. And wheresoever they are, we would also be there, and we would meet in flesh and blood.”
Globe Afrique reports that it’s quite apparent that Koijee, who the online publication describes as being a young and inexperienced mayor fails to realize that his statements are treated as state-sponsored or supported atrocities.
Globe Afrique which combines investigative reporting, specialized research and analysis among others, further reports that “if one were to couple the mayor’s statements with recent acts of violence, this would lead to a decision by the ICC to open an investigation into violence in Liberia because it falls within the category of crimes against humanity which will lead to future prosecutions of state-supported atrocities.
Failure on the part of President Weah to forcefully and publicly reject and sanction Koijee may be deemed as silent support of the Monrovia major, according to Globe Afrique.
Howbeit, Globe Afrique quotes the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, as stating that “when passions run high during elections, and people do not act with restraint, this may lead to large-scale crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC. In such a case, the office of the prosecutor will not hesitate to act under the criteria defined by the Rome Statute.”
Madam Bensouda, according to Globe Afrique, went on to say, “Political leaders are equally obliged to ensure that the electoral process and elections proceed calmly and that they, their supporters and sympathizers, refrain from any violence before, during and after elections.”
Liberia is a party to the Rome Statute. And, Article 15 of the Rome Statute allows ICC Prosecutors to investigate allegations of crimes based on information from victims, nongovernmental organizations or any other reliable source. Moreover, the ex-officio provisions of the Statute give victims and survivors a role in the ICC process by enabling them to trigger investigations.
Over the years, the ICC has conducted investigations and prosecutions of crime against humanity, war crimes and aggression in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Darfur, Sudan; the Central African Republic, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Mali, Burundi, and Sierra Leone.
“Anyone who incites or participates in mass violence, by ordering, soliciting, encouraging or otherwise contributing to crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC is liable to prosecution before the Court.” And no one should doubt the determination to investigate such crimes,” Globe Afrique further quotes Madam Bensouda as saying.
Amid report that President Weah and Major Koijee risk being prosecuted by the ICC for election violence, Globe Afrique also reports that Liberians in the United States are gearing up to petition the U.S. State Department to prohibit Koijee and other political party members of the ruling CDC from entering the U.S. for fear that they are sponsoring domestic terrorism in Liberia.
Globe Afrique cites as reliance for the Liberians’ pending action against Koijee, as what the media group referred to as 8 U.S. Code Subchapter 2, Subsection 1182 of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act, which it says holds that “any person, including government officials who endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity are inadmissible to the United States.”
“Terrorist activity” is defined as any activity which is unlawful under the laws of the place where it is committed (or which, if it had been committed in the United States, would be unlawful under the laws of the United States or any State) including a violent attack upon the liberty of a person.”
Globe Afrique also quotes an anonymous official at the U.S. Justice Department, of disclosing that the United States government and members of the United States Committee on Foreign Relations are closely following events unfolding in Liberia.
