Amnesty International has released its 2013 State of the World’s Human rights Report which criticizes Liberia’s court system for violating the customary international legal principle of non-refoulement during an extradition process of some Ivoirians accused of attempting to cross into Liberia with guns. It said the right to due process of many of the accused was also abused.
In June 2012, 41 people, arrested in 2011 and accused of attempting to cross into Côte d’Ivoire from Liberia with weapons, were extradited to Côte d’Ivoire at the request of the Ivorian government, despite the expressed fears of UN agencies, human rights organizations and others that the individuals would be at risk of torture or other ill-treatment, including unfair trial, the group said in its report.
The global human rights campaigner then said that during court proceedings related to the extradition, many individuals did not have interpreters, and an appeal against their extradition as well as a habeas corpus petition were pending at the time of their extradition.
“At least, 11 were registered refugees. Others who claimed to be seeking asylum were not allowed to access asylum proceedings and the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, lawyers and others were not allowed access to these people to verify their identities or their potential claims to asylum,” the report added.
It also recalled that in December, another extradition request was made for eight nationals of Côte d’Ivoire – seven adult men and one child.
They are accused by the Ivorian government of having launched an attack that resulted in the death of seven UN peacekeepers and one Ivorian soldier in June 2012. They are also charged in Liberia with various offences including murder, rape, and being mercenaries.
“There are serious concerns about the lack of evidence in both cases. If extradited, they could be at risk of torture or other ill-treatment, unfair trial, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance or extra-legal, arbitrary or summary execution,” the group said.
Armed gangs, believed to be Liberia-based, have used the Liberian side of the border to launch deadly attacks inside Ivory Coast. They are also believed to be mercenaries backing former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo. Defendants Frank Oliver, Nellie Edward, Nellie Junior, Kamanda, and four others were arrested by Liberian securities on multiple criminal charges along with their Liberian counterparts for allegedly siding with ousted Ivorian President Laurent Gbargbo to destabilize neighboring Cote d'Ivoire.
The defendants have since faced charges of rape, murder and being mercenaries, among other charges, with reports that they were part of an attack in which seven Niger Contingents of the United Nations (UN) Peace Keepers in Ivory Coast were killed. They were also accused of fleeing to Liberia after committing the alleged crimes in Ivory Coast; but the defendants have denied such charges levied against them, insisting that they were refugees in Liberia.
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