The Court of Appeal of Turku has given permission for further proceedings in an exceptional case where a Finn was accused of atrocities during the Liberian civil war. The date of the next hearing has not yet been set.
At the end of April, the district court of Pirkanmaa dismissed all charges against the man from Sierra Leone. Gibril Massaquoifor crimes allegedly committed during the civil war between 1999 and 2003.
Massaquoi, who lived in Finland for more than ten years, was accused of numerous crimes, such as murder, aggravated rape, aggravated war crimes and gross human rights violations during the war in neighboring Sierra Leone.
In an unprecedented case, Finnish judicial authorities traveled to West Africa to hear the testimony of dozens of witnesses and visit the scene of suspected crimes.
“Reasonable doubt” about guilt and timing
The district court found that the prosecutors did not prove with sufficient certainty that Massaquoi was involved in the acts referred to in the charges. Thus, according to the court, there were reasonable doubts about his guilt.
The district court also noted in its verdict that the defense had given reason to doubt whether he was in Liberia when the crimes apparently took place.
The prosecutor had demanded a life sentence for Massaquoi, who lives in Tampere. Prosecutors appealed the verdict at the end of May. The permit was granted at the end of June, but was not announced until Monday.
Massaquoi has denied all charges.
Source: The Nordic Page