The rearrest and incarceration of former Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) officials and former warlord Prince Johnson calling for the establishment of a UN Tribunal and not a War Crimes Court in Liberia dominate the headlines in the Wednesday, August 21 editions of Liberian newspapers.
The Criminal Court ‘C’ at the Temple of Justice in Monrovia has again sent to the Monrovia Central Prison five former Central Bank of Liberia officials on the new charge of ‘Money Laundering”;
Milton A Weeks, Charles E. Sirleaf, Dorbor M. Hagba, Richard H. Walker and Joseph Dennis were previously charged with the crimes of Economic Sabotage, Criminal Facilitation and Criminal Solicitation and later charged with ‘Money Laundering’ for printing 5,148,250,000 Liberian
dollars in excess of the approved and authorized amount.
The Inquirer, FrontPage and New Dawn newspapers published this story as their front page banner headlines. The Inquirer published it under the caption: CBL Former Officials Sent To Prison, the FrontPage: REARRESTED AND JAILED, while the New Dawn published it under the title: Charles Sirleaf, Others Rearrested.
Another story that captured the headlines in the Wednesday editions of Liberian newspapers is former warlord, now Senator Prince Yormie Johnson’s call for the establishment of a UN Tribunal, instead of a war and economic crimes court.
Prince Johnson. who was leader of the defunct Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia and who committed heinous atrocities during the war, has branded threats by the CDC-led government to establish a war crimes court as a ‘scare tactic’, adding that the country does not need a war crimes court, but a UN backed tribunal.
The New dawn published this story on its front page under the caption: PYJ: “We Need UN Tribunal, Not War Crimes Court”.
Other headlines in the Wednesday editions of Liberian newspapers include: “President Weahj Will Not Apologize To Urey”-Executive Mansion (The Inquirer); Education Ministry Frowns On High Tuition
Fees, Uniforms (The Inquirer); LIBERTY PARTY FOUNDER, POLITICAL LEADER CRITICALLY ILL: BRUMSKINE IS GIVING UP CANCER BATTLE (FrontPage); President Weah In More Trouble Than Taylor And Doe (Hot Pepper).
TSS/abj/APA