MONROVIA – The Liberia Nationwide Police have denied a request from the authorized workforce representing Cllr. J. Fonati Koffa and his colleagues to signal for his or her non permanent launch, FrontPage Africa has reliably discovered.
By Gerald C. Koinyeneh, [email protected]
This growth follows the formal charging of Koffa and a number of other lawmakers with legal facilitation, arson, and legal conspiracy to commit arson in reference to the December 2024 hearth that destroyed a bit of the Capitol Constructing.
The costs come after a months-long investigation by the Joint Safety, with help from international hearth specialists.
Sources near the investigation allege that the federal government has obtained witness statements implicating among the accused. Police and Nationwide Safety Company (NSA) sources informed FPA that the general public ought to “wait and see how issues unfold.”
Regardless of all 5 lawmakers having been formally charged, authorities proceed to carry them with out bail, bond, or launch on their very own recognizance. Authorized specialists have described this as a violation of each statutory and constitutional provisions guaranteeing due course of and the presumption of innocence.
In keeping with Chapter 13 of the Liberian Felony Process Legislation, as soon as an individual is formally charged, the query of launch turns into a matter for the court docket—not the police. The police don’t have any authority below Liberian regulation to detain any particular person post-charge except a court docket has ordered remand.
Moreover, the generally cited 48-hour rule below Article 21(f) of the Structure, which mandates that an individual arrested should be charged inside 48 hours or launched, doesn’t apply as soon as prices are filed. On this case, since prices have been filed, the police ought to have both launched the lawmakers on recognizance or bail, or instantly turned them over to the court docket.
“These males are sitting Representatives of the Republic. They aren’t flight dangers. They’ve identified addresses. There may be completely no authorized justification—none—for his or her continued detention,” stated a constitutional lawyer who spoke on situation of anonymity.
The arrests stem from the Capitol hearth incident throughout a contested Speakership dispute in December 2024. Since then, a number of people believed to be aligned with the then-Minority Bloc have been detained. The investigation has included writs of search and seizure for properties and cellphones.
Supporters gathered once more on the Liberia Nationwide Police Headquarters Thursday because the lawmakers have been detained behind closed doorways. Former Speaker Koffa, ever defiant, arrived holding a toothbrush, a logo interpreted as readiness to sleep in jail.
Critics now say the police’s refusal to launch the lawmakers constitutes political overreach, and have referred to as on the Ministry of Justice to intervene.
“The rule of regulation can’t be selective,” stated a joint assertion from a number of civil society organizations. “As soon as charged, the police can not turn out to be the decide, jury, and jailer.”
As of Friday morning, no court docket look had been scheduled, and the lawmakers remained in police custody. The Liberia Nationwide Police has not issued an official press launch on their authorized foundation for the continued detention.
Authorized groups representing the lawmakers are anticipated to file quick motions, and presumably search a writ of habeas corpus for illegal detention.
