Survivors sue Liberian government over failure to track down civil war killers

Survivors of a massacre during Liberia’s civil war have sued the government in Monrovia for its failure to address wartime atrocities. The administration of President George Weah is under pressure to implement a report setting guidelines on bringing wartime criminals to justice.

Liberia endured two civil wars between 1989 and 2003. AP - Jose Goitia

Survivors of the St Peter’s Lutheran Church massacre in 1990 are seeking compensation for the loss of family members and the government’s subsequent failure to investigate the killings.

Some 600 people were killed.

The victims' families are seeking nearly two million euros, as well as the provision of just and adequate compensation to all other victims of the massacre and their families.

The Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA), along with its partners, the Institute for Human Rights and Development in Africa (IHRDA) and Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, filed the suit against the Weah administration in the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

This will be the first time that a court will examine Liberia’s failure to investigate human rights and humanitarian violations during two civil wars that ravaged the country between 1989 and 2003.

According to the writ seen by RFI, plaintiffs in the suit include three siblings who lost 16 family members, as well as the Global Justice & Research Project (GJRP).

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St Peter’s Lutheran Church was operating as a Red Cross shelter in 1990, housing close to 2,000 civilians seeking refuge from rising violence when the military carried out the massacres.

In the submission to the ECOWAS Court, one plaintiff describes the chaos in the church and the horror he experienced as government soldiers killed his mother and brother in front of him.

“Because there’s been no justice, I sometimes feel that a dog on the streets of Monrovia has greater value than my mother and other victims of the Lutheran Church Massacre,” he stated in the writ before the court.

Ringleader found guilty

In September 2021, a United States court found that soldiers from the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) under the command of Colonel Moses Thomas stormed the church on 29 July 1990, and shot and hacked to death approximately 600 unarmed civilians.

The US court found that the attack amounted to war crimes, torture, and crimes against humanity, and awarded the four survivors 85 million euros in damages.

“Despite the US court’s findings, Moses Thomas lives freely in Liberia because the government has taken no steps to ensure justice for him or any other known and alleged perpetrators of civil war-era atrocities, and none of the victims have received a cent of reparations,” said Ela Matthews, senior staff attorney at CJA.

Twelve years ago, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission directed Liberia to establish an extraordinary criminal tribunal to investigate and prosecute violations, but Liberia has taken no action to bring perpetrators to account or provide justice for survivors and victims.

“It’s high time that Liberia finally conducts effective investigations and prosecutes civil wars era human rights violations and atrocities,” Oludayo Fagbemi, senior legal officer at IHRDA, told RFI.

On July 29, 1990, AFL soldiers stormed St. Peter’s Lutheran Church brutally killing 600 civilians seeking refuge in the Red Cross shelter. @CJA_News + @IHRDAfrica + @Debevoise represent GJRP and three survivors in a case filed at #ECOWAS.

— CJA (@CJA_News) October 6, 2022

US supports accountability  

Liberia's refusal to investigate wartime atrocities nor implement its Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report, prompted a visit last week  from Beth Van Schaack, the US Ambassador-at-Large for global criminal justice.

“Part of the reason I am here is to better understand what’s happening with the implementation of these recommendations,” she added.

Van Schaack said she was shocked that the US and other European courts are seeking justice for Liberian victims but Liberian authorities are refusing to support the process.