By Alphonsus Zeon
The former Liberian Vice President, Moses Blah on Tuesday, 20 May, ended his testimony at the trial of his former boss, Charles Taylor, at the UN-backed Special Court sitting in The Hague, The Netherlands.
On the last day of his testimony, the 27th prosecution witness faced questions relating to his own role in the Liberian civil war and the death of the former Commander of the RUF rebel movement, Sam Bockarie, as Mr Taylor’s lawyers sought to cast doubt over his honesty.
It follows damning allegations by Mr Blah that Mr Taylor instructed his fighters to kill Mr Bockaris.
Under cross examination, Mr Blah rejected suggestions from Taylor’s lead lawyer, Courtney Griffiths that Blah had a hand in the death of Sam Bockarie. The autopsy report prepared after an examination of Bockarie’s body read out in court on Tuesday, revealed the RUF commander had four bullets lodged in his chest, two in his back and one in his pelvis.
Mr Blah said a public notary document signed by one Jusu Momoh, alleging that Mr. Blah had instructed his Chief of Office Staff, Eugene Nagbe to deposit Bockarie’s body at the Samuel Stryker Funeral home in Monrovia was “a blinking lie”.
He also refuted a Monrovia newspaper article quoting a witness who appeared before the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, alleging that he [Blah] had supervised a military mission codenamed “Operation Grass Hopper”, in which several dozen civilians were massacred on Duport Road in Monrovia.
Blah said both the Analyst newspaper, which published the article, and the person only identified as Debleh, had lied.
Blah answered in the negative to questions from Griffiths on whether he commanded a child soldier unit, known as the Small Boys’ Unit of the NPFL. He said he had only taken in a 13-year-old child soldier when he was Inspector General of the NPFL, but on humanitarian grounds. He went on to say that the boy, Tamba Allieu, ceased being a fighter thereafter and that he was still under his care.
Courtesy: BBC World Service Trust and Search for Common Ground
Comments