WECC Office Fiercely Defends Newly Named ED -Says Groups Rejecting Cllr. Massaquoi Ignorant of Legal Precepts

MONROVIA – Even before inks got dried on reports about the appointment of the Executive Director of the ensuing War and Economic Crimes Court (WECC) by President Joseph Boakai, a group of Liberians, the Coalition for the Establishment of War and Economic Crimes Court in Liberia, unleashed their advocacy dagger at the ED. Two advocacy groups quickly and robustly reacted to the news, expressing their abhorrence and rejection of ED Jonathan T. Massaquoi who, they revealed, is unfit and compromised for this relationship with individuals once indicted for their alleged roles in war crimes and crimes against humanity. But the Secretariat of the office WECC has proportionately hit back at the accusers of their boss, stating that those making the claims are acutely wanting of knowledge and insight in national and international laws and conventions. The Analyst reports.

The Secretariat of the War and Economic Crimes Court (WECC) says it is taken aback by a statement released by two of Liberia’s civil society organizations, the Coalition for the Establishment of War and Economic Crimes Courts in Liberia and Human Rights Community of Liberia criticizing the appointment of Cllr. Jonathan T. Massaquoi as Executive Director of the Court and calling for his rejection.

In a statement issued in Monrovia, the Office of the WEEC (OWECC) quoted the objections by the civil society organizations that justified their position on the fact that Cllr Massaquoi had once provided legal representations for Madam Agnes Reeves Taylor, who was on trial in the United Kingdom for alleged war crimes during Liberia’s civil war, and a war crimes indictee from Sierra Leone, Mr. Gebril Massaquoi in a Finnish Court.

The two groups also accused the newly WEEC ED of instituting multiple lawsuits against human rights defenders and institutions, who were the lead campaigners for the establishment of the war crimes court for many years.

But in its reaction, the WECC Secretariat says its boss, Cllr. Jonathan T. Massaquoi, is not conflicted by any stretch of imagination and that he has demonstrated over his 15 years of legal practice to not only be outstanding, but very ethical and professional, and has not appeared before any grievance and ethics committee.

“Cllr. Massaquoi has served as amicus curia (friend of the Court) to the Supreme Court of Liberia on cases involving ethical transgression and is committed and ever-resolved to lead a team of professionals poised in making sure that the mandate of said Office is achieved, and will not waste valuable time in the future responding to such diatribe,” the Secretariat further said.

In further defense of Cllr. Massaquoi, the War and Economic Crimes Court Secretariat quoted that Liberian Constitution at Article 21. (i) which states that, “the right to counsel and the rights of counsel shall be inviolable.

“There shall be no interference with the lawyer-client relationship. In all trials, hearings, interrogatories, and other proceedings where a person is accused of a criminal offense, the accused shall have the right to counsel of his choice; and where the accused is unable to secure such representation, the Republic shall make available legal aid services to ensure the protections of his rights. There shall be absolute immunity from any government sanctions or interference in the performance of legal services as a counselor or advocate; lawyers’ offices and homes shall not be searched or papers examined or taken save pursuant to a search warrant and court order; no lawyer shall be prevented from or punished for providing legal services, regardless of the charges against or the guilt of his client, no lawyer shall be barred from practice for political reasons.”

The WECC Secretariat expressed consternation and regret that the Human Rights Advocates, who should be moral guarantors of the Constitution of Liberia in the protection of the fundamental rights of all citizens, including the right to equal opportunity for work and employment, and not only Accra Peace Accord of 2003, petitioning the Government of Liberia to openly violate Article 21 (1) only because of self-aggrandizement and appeasement, and not on the merit of any moral and ethical breach.

The Secretariat pointed to the non-interference principle of the lawyer-client relationship, and the absolute immunity from any sanctions or interference in the performance of legal services as a counselor or advocate, something that is not unique to Liberia but constitutes a fundament pillow of international crime law.

The Office of War & Economic Crimes Court further argued that the legal profession is the only profession or vocation that is constitutionally protected and, as such, and that no government can sanction or reprimand any lawyer for performing his/her constitutional duty.

“Moreover, all criminal defendants have a right to a lawyer of his/her choice in a criminal case, thus creating a lawyer-client relationship in which no government agency or court of law can deprive a lawyer from holding public office,” the wecc Secretariat said, and that there are litanies of precedents under both our criminal justice system and the international criminal justice system that allude to that fundamental principle.

Citing some outstanding precedents, the WECC stated recalled that on February 12, 2021, Mr. Karim Ahmad Khan was elected the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“Before his election, Mr. Khan between 2006 and 2007 served as the lead defense counsel to former President, Charles Ghankay Taylor, and Mrs. Fatou Sankoh, wife of Foday Sankoh before the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL).

“Second, the current Associate Justice of the Federal Supreme Court of the United States of America, Her Honor Ketanji Brown Jackson was a defense counsel for inmates at Guantanamo Bay charged with terrorism and other heinous crimes by the United States of America, and successfully representing those defendant’s legal interest; today she sits on the Supreme Court of the United States of America.”

Further defending their boss, the WEEC Office argued: “Now, to accept the faulty logic of these very few individuals and select groups of civil society organizations, that by Cllr. Massaquoi’s representation of the legal interest of persons allegedly accused of war crimes in Liberia makes him unqualified and compromised to serve as Executive Director of the Office of the War and Economic Crimes Court could equally mean that the Chief Prosecutor of the International Crime Court, Mr. Karim Ahmad Khan, and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson are equally unqualified to occupy their current office—what a lazy and poor school of reasoning!

“On the contrary, these lawyers were performing their duties as defense attorneys. Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson during her confirmation on March 21, 2022, responding to this very question stated, “Under the ethics rules that apply to lawyers, an attorney (lawyer) has a duty to represent her client’s interest, refraining from contradicting her client’s legal arguments and/or undermining her client’s interest by publicly declaring the lawyer’s own personal disagreement with the legal position, or alleged behavior of her client…” —what a succinct way to put it!”