Metro

Liberian Supreme Court orders govt to return $113,000 to defendants acquitted in $100m cocaine trial

Published

2 weeks ago

May 25, 2023

The Liberian Supreme Court had ordered the federal government to return the sum of $113,000 to defendants who were standing trial in a $100M cocaine case but were discharged and acquitted.

The defendants, Malam Conte, Adulai Djibril Djalo, Makki Ahmad Issam and Oliver A. Zayzay, were accused by the government of shipping cocaine worth $100 million into the country last year.

The verdict was given by the President of the court, Associate Justice Yamie Quiqui Gbeisay, who also denied a writ of prohibition filed by the government through the Ministry of Justice, challenging the return of the money to the men.

The government had argued that the money in question was confiscated from one Gustavo Henrique who was tried in absentia and was not among those acquitted by the lower court.

The Justice Ministry insisted that the money was confiscated during the arrest of one of the four defendants, Malam Conte, at the premises of TRH Trading, the company that shipped the cocaine into the country.

The 520kg haul of cocaine substance was seized by authorities in 2022 among containers that TRH Trading had imported from Brazil where the drug worth over $100 million was discovered, making it one of the largest drug-related cases in the country’s history.

According to TRH Trading, a subsidiary of AJA Group Holdings, the accused allegedly offered to pay $200,000 for a single container of frozen foods on which the cocaine was smuggled, which at the time cost less than $30,000.

The government also argued that Henrique absconded from Liberia upon learning of the arrest of Malam Conte on October 1, 2022, and was never brought under the jurisdiction of the court.

“For the State to return any money, it has to be based upon a process initiated by Gustavo Henrique, and not any of the four individuals,” the government argued.

They were arraigned on charges bordering on “commission of money laundering, unlicensed possession of controlled drugs and unlicensed importation of controlled drugs.”

After months of trial, the accused were exonerated and acquitted of all the charges by an empaneled jury.

According to the jury, the accused had no knowledge of the cocaine smuggling operation as claimed by the government, and that the money seized from the men should be returned to them.

Related Topics:Cocaine Case Featured Liberia Supreme Court

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Metro

Rwandan President, Kagame sacks over 200 military personnel in major shake-up

Published

15 hours ago

June 7, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

Rwandan President, Paul Kagame has sacked over 200 soldiers including top military brass and commanders from the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) in a massive shake-up.

The dismissed officers include the former Commander of the Reserve Forces, Maj. Gen. Aloys Muganga, and Brig. Gen. Francis Mutiganda, a former Head of External Security in the National Intelligence Services, as well as 14 senior officers.

The announcement of the sacking of the officers which was contained in a statement released by the RDF on Wednesday, did not give reason for the sackings, but the move come a day after the president reshuffled the top echelon of the country’s military, which saw the firing of the Defence Minister and an Army Chief.

The sacking of the soldiers has further heightened tension between Rwanda and neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, with each side accusing the other of working with rebels to topple one another’s governments, according to reports in local media.

Metro

UN war crimes court declares Rwandan genocide suspect, Felicien Kabuga unfit to stand trial

Published

16 hours ago

June 7, 2023

Akanimoh Etim

An 88-year-old Rwandan genocide suspect, Felicien Kabuga has been declared unfit to stand trial by judges at a United Nations War Crimes Court in The Hague.

In a decision published by the court on Wednesday, the judges acknowledged that Kabuga was no longer able to actively participate in his trial, and rather proposed an alternative process that aims to resemble a trial but does not allow for a conviction instead of stopping the proceedings completely.

“The trial chamber finds Mr. Kabuga is no longer capable of meaningful participation in his trial,” the publication said.

“The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, therefore, finds that Mr. Kabuga is not fit for trial and is very unlikely to regain fitness in the future.

“It is therefore agreed to adopt an alternative finding procedure that resembles a trial as closely as possible, but without the possibility of a conviction,” it added.

Kabuga who was arrested in Paris where he had been in hiding under a false identity for several years, was one of the most wanted suspects of the Rwandan genocide, and was charged at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda with genocide and crimes against humanity.

At his initial arraignment in September last year, the ICC heard that Kabuga was alleged to have been the main financier of the ethnic Hutu militias who slaughtered over 800,000 minority Tutsis as well as political opponents during the genocide in 1994.

According to the UN, Kabuga, a wealthy businessman from the Hutu ethnic group, had established and financed an infamous media outfit, Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), which was notorious for inciting violence and promoting the targeting and elimination of individuals from the Tutsi ethnic group who were referred to as “Cockroaches”.

Kabuga was arrested in Paris in 2020 after decades on the run and sent for trial in The Hague where he pleaded not guilty to charges of sponsoring the infamous Hutu radical radio station urging people to kill Tutsi “cockroaches”.

He also denied supplying machetes and supporting the murderous Interahamwe Hutu militia.