The Global Justice and Research Project (GJRP), a not-for-profit organization that claims to be based in Liberia, headed by Hassan Bility, has been carrying out a number of activities in Liberia, including holding stakeholders engagements and documenting war-related crimes and, where possible, “seeking” justice for the victims. However, it has been discovered that the GJRP has been operating illegally in the country without properly registering under the laws of Liberia.
The Hot Pepper, which has been following the activities of the Global Justice and Research Project and its partner, Civitas Maxima, became eager to investigate the two groups when a group of individuals accused the GJRP of extorting money from individuals and, when the person refuses to comply place their name on a list of criminals to be arrested and prosecuted in Europe.
However, it was observed that both the Global Justice and Research Project and Civitas Maxima are not legally registered organizations under Liberian laws and, therefore, have been operating illegally and criminally in the country and defrauding government of much-needed revenues.
The Hot Pepper also observed that the Center for Justice and Accountability, another not-for-profit organization, which was registered under Liberian laws, was last accredited between 2008 and 2014, and since then it, too, has not been reaccredited.
What is interesting to note is that the Global Justice and Research Project and Civitas Maxima have been operating in Europe, prosecuting individuals perceived to be protected witnesses during the Charles Taylor trial and allegedly extorting money from some individuals who lure into their chicanery.
It has been alleged by Washington sources that the establishment of a war and economic crimes court for Liberia recently intensified on the world stage due to the United States of America believing that the George Weah administration is hosting and shielding an NGO that is causing troubles for US intelligence and going against the interest of the US intelligence community.
After the Liberian civil war, US intelligence agencies flew about seventy-nine (79) witnesses out of Liberia to a number of destinations, including the US, Canada and parts of Europe, to testify against ex-President Charles Taylor in order to bring him down guilty before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. Fortunately, they all served their purpose well, and therefore remained under the protection of the US intelligence community.
However, according to the sources, these protected witnesses have come under serious attack by Hassan Bility, Founder and Director of the Global Justice and Research Project, who is based in Europe. He has been haunting the witnesses, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity and dragging them to court in Europe, at the displeasure of the American intelligence community.
“What Bility has been doing is that he would locate a protected witness who knows a lot of the civil war, and in some cases a major player, and demand huge sums of money from the individual or drag them to court for murder, rape, etc. He would come down to Liberia, recruit false witnesses and train them how to spew fallacies in court against the protected witnesses in order to bring a guilty verdict against them. The recent case with Massaquoi, which was thrown out of court for witnesses providing fake and conflicting accounts, is one of many cases that Bility has been pursuing against the intelligence community’s protected witnesses,” a source in Washington, D.C. confided in the Hot Pepper.
Bility has been closely working with a group, Civitas Maxima, headquartered in Place Longemalle 1, Geneva, Switzerland, Contact #, +41 (0)223461243. Due to his motive to maximize profit at the expense of these protected witnesses, Bility is serving as the local agent for Civitas Maxima—using the list containing the names of the protected witnesses and going after them, one by one, with Civitas Maxima serving as his cover group for the prosecution in court.
“Because of this, the Global Justice and Research Project and its collaborating partner, Civitas Maxima, were heavily criticized and arch-rivaled by the International Justice Group (IJG), a US-based advocacy and human rights group. The IJG was established by the former TRC Chairman, Cllr. Jerome Verdier, along with other topnotch US security experts. This group has been in the vanguard of protecting America’s interest, including the 79 protected witnesses flown out of Liberia between 1997 and 2003,” the source explained.
The Hot Pepper is still exerting effort to contact Hassan Bility and his Global Justice and Research Project, as well as Civitas Maxima, in order to ascertain the fact behind these allegations. Investigation continues.