MONROVIA – The International Justice Group (IJG) headed by renowned rights lawyer, Cllr. Jerome Verdier, says while it welcomes the support of the United States Government for the full implementation of all the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia (TRC), especially, the establishment of the War and Economic Crimes Court (WECC) for Liberia to address war time crimes and atrocities committed within the territories of the Republic of Liberia, during periods of war in Liberia; as well as the imposition of targeted sanctions on selected officials of the Weah Government for public corruption and widespread human rights violations and crimes against humanity, it however does not support the use of “Fake Justice Advocates” who in their practice, routinely and habitually, gathered, manufactured false evidence and tell lies through the use of their “coached, false and fake witnesses” program to lie under oath, thereby, conspiring to commit perjury, contrary and injurious to the tenets of substantial justice and the rule of law.
Especially fingering the Global Justice Research Project (GJRP), Civitas Maxima (CM) and the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) as bounty hunters, masquerades, fortune hunters and mercenaries who are a disgrace to the body of justice advocacy against war crime, the IJG said these fake justice advocates are undesirable; deliberate in their pursuits of injustices to fill their pockets as mercenaries would with a seared conscience that ignores the yearnings of victims and survivals for the justice that a nation so desperately needs to bring closure to a nightmarish past in order to commence the arduous journey to peace and reconciliation.
“These actors, perpetrators of injustices, creatures of “bounty justice” have no place in our work for justice which conforms to the tenets of the rule of law and principles of substantial justice and must be excluded from this noble effort of the US Government, Liberia’s Development Partners, the UN, International Justice Advocates and ourselves concerning justice pursuits in Liberia relating to the establishment of the War and Economic Crimes Court for Liberia,” the IJG stated in a special press statement Sunday, March 5, 2023.
“The International Justice Group went further to showcase a litany of instances where it was established how those so-called justice advocates connived with witnesses to give false statements that sought to indict accused war crimes perpetrators.
“While these individuals and ex-war lords may have committed heinous crimes deserving prosecution and justice under the rule of law, they are entitled to justice in a fair and just manner that conforms to the principles of justice that holds all accused persons to be innocent until proven guiltybased upon the production of credible, verifiable and factual evidence based on the truth.
“In a prior statement I have previously described the Global Justice Research Project (GJRP), Civitas Maxima (CM) and the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) as bounty hunters, masquerades, fortune hunters and mercenaries who are a disgrace to the body of justice advocacy against war crime.
“There have been numerous cases substantiating the allegations and concerns involving all of these groups, and particularly those involving GJRP, who Ambassador Van Schaack (Office of Global Criminal Justice) routinely and inappropriately supports GJRP publicly. Most concerning was her recent public statement issued on December 22, 2022 where she publicly addressed the people of Liberia about the establishment of the War and Crimes Court of Liberia and specifically commended the work of the GJRP. Her past and current affiliation as a Board Member of the CJA and publicly cited affiliation between CJA, GJRP which includes Bility’s bio being published on their website confirm the conflict of interest between Beth Van Schaack, Hassan Bility/GJRP, Carmen Cheung Ka – Man/CJA and Alain Werner/CM.
“This conflict is extremely damaging to the process of establishing the War and Economic Crimes Court and Ambassador must recuse herself from the process and cease and desist promoting GJRP, CM and CJA who are subjects of serious allegations of criminal misdeeds associated with the war crimes prosecutions they have been involved with. Specifically, those involving witnesses and information relating to any of those investigations and prosecutions for War Crimes, Human Rights Violations and Immigration Fraud. In our judgment, they have all been tainted and some issues are currently being litigated.
“Some of these investigations involve cases that were prosecuted in the US and/or involved US persons and a United Nations backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, which was significantly funded by the United States government. As a result, the US Congress should seriously consider investigating these allegations as they involve US funds and US government personnel that were involved,” the IJG said in its press statement, while listing Hassan Bility of the Global Justice and Research Project; Alain Werner of Civitas Maxima; Carmen Cheung Ka-Man of the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA), as well CJA’s Board member Ambassador Beth Van Schaack of the U.S. State Department, as aiding and abetting the ruse,” IJG Executive Director Verdier said.
According to the IJG, these fake justice advocates fought over the years to coerce witnesses to lie on former combatants who had sought residency in Europe and other parts of the Diaspora, with the aim of raising funds to support their respective organizations. See page 6 & 7 for full text of IJG’s POSITION STATEMENT ON FAKE JUSTICE ADVOCATES. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
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