Comment on Thousands attend funeral of Liberian ex-warlord Prince Johnson
xiao@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
A Liberian rights activist tells RFI it was “painful” to see Johnson commemorated as a hero.
“It’s painful – the jubilation I’m seeing, the celebration I’m seeing, of a murderer, a war criminal,” human rights activist Maxson Kpakio told RFI.
Kpakio, founder of the Liberia Justice Forum, has been active in calling for a special war and economic crimes court for Liberia “so that those that bear the huge responsibility for the war can be punished”.
In May, Liberia’s President Joseph Boakai signed an order to create a war crimes court. But it’s clear to Kpakio that there is ongoing impunity for Liberia’s former military leaders.
“Seeing [Johnson] not being punished but being celebrated and remembered as a hero is painful to all those that lost family members, killed through his initiative or by himself.”
Kpakio regretted they could no longer ask Johnson: “Why did you do this to Liberia?”.
In an interview with RFI in 2009 he denied he had taken part in massacres during the civil wars.
But two years later, while running for president, the father of 12 justified his role in the war.
“I have done nothing criminal… I fought to defend my country, my people who were led to the slaughterhouse, as if they were chickens and goats, by the Doe regime,” Johnson told AFP news agency.