The Liberia National Bar Association (LNBA) says it is troubled by recent acts of torture and maltreatment meted against students of the University of Liberia-based Student Unification Party (SUP), who had assembled to register grievances to the Government of Liberia (GOL) on Independence Day. They were mobbed by loyalists believed to be from the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change-Council of Patriots (CDC-COP).
The LNBA says the “banditry and savagery” orchestrated by the CDC loyalists against peaceful students must immediately be investigated by an independent panel that will assist the police in getting to the bottom of the issue. “The LNBA will not condone any attempt from national government to treat the recent attack as business-as-usual,” a press statement, issued on July 29, 2022 and signed by the LNBA secretariat, underscored.
According to the LNBA, the video image of the event presents horrific scenes of torture and inhumane treatment against harmless students who were simply exercising their Constitutional rights to freely assemble, and that there was no indication that they acted outside the ambit of the law.
The LNBA condemned the violence and maltreatment of the students, and recounted that such acts are a harsh reminder and a tacit recast of the dark days of dictatorship and intolerance to critical voices, and amounts to systematic clampdown on dissenting views. The legal luminaries emphasized that the conduct of the CDC-COP has no place in a democratic society, which Liberia aspires for and is being acclaimed to be.
“The Weah-led government should rise to the occasion to honor its Constitutional obligation as being the government for all Liberians, irrespective of tribe, color, creed and political persuasion, and to protect the fundamental rights of all Liberians, including those who disagree with the way the country is being governed,” the LNBA press statement continued.
The LNBA reminded the government of President George Weah that, as the country prepares for elections next year, the stakes are obviously going to be higher.
“The Bar therefore calls on the government to always adhere to the rule of law in dealing with critical voices and those who politically disagree with the government, which is a basic tenet of a democracy, as the failure to do so the government will be sending a wrong signal that will cast dark cloud on the possibility of holding free and fair elections in 2023.
“The LNBA warns of the dire consequences of perpetrating violence, as same has the tendency to rob the country of the huge gains made in nearly two decades of peace and the return to civil democratic rule,” the statement added.