KAMATAHUN, Lofa County – The Finnish court assessing charges of war crimes against Gibril Massaquoi, a former commander of Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front, has returned to Liberia for the third time.
On Tuesday the court will begin hearings in the Finnish prosecutors’ appeal of last year’s acquittal of Massaquoi by a lower court.
In April, the District Court in the city of Tampere found prosecutors did not prove Massaquoi’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and it acquitted him of all the charges, including aggravated murder and aggravated rape. In an 850-page ruling, the court said there was “a reasonable doubt” that Massaquoi, now 53, had committed the crimes.
