The Liberian National Bar Association (LNBA) says it is troubled by the recent acts of torture and maltreatment meted against students of the University of Liberia based political party, the Student Unification Party.
The Bar recounts how the students who had assembled to register grievances to the Government of Liberia on the Independence Day were mobbed by loyalists believed to be from the ruling Congress for Democratic Change Council of Patriots.
The LNBA said the “banditry and savagery” orchestrated by the CDC loyalists against the 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 said it will not condone any attempt from the Government of Liberia to treat the recent attack as business as usual.
The LNBA said the video images of the event present horrific scenes of torture and inhumane treatment against harmless students who were simply exercising their constitutional rights to freely assemble and there was no indication that they acted outside the ambit of the law.
In a statement issued in Monrovia over the weekend, the LNBA while condemning the acts of violence and maltreatment of the students recounts that such acts are a harsh reminder and a tacit recast of the dark days of dictatorship, and intolerance to critical voices and amount to systematic clampdown on dissenting views.
The LNBA said such conduct by the youths believed to be from the CDC Council of Patriots has no place in the democratic society which Liberia aspires for and is being acclaimed to be.
The LNBA said it is concerned about the conspicuous silence of the Government of Liberia on this despicable act and maintains that the silence of the Government lends credence to assumptions that the acts of the CDC Council of Patriots may have been instigated and sanctioned by state actors which sends a very dangerous signal that the country should brace itself for acts of violence in the lead up to the 2023 presidential and legislative elections.
The LNBA observes that any democratically elected government that is intolerant to critical voices presents itself as being weak and leaves room for its democratic credentials to be underrated.
The LNBA therefore calls on the Weah-led Government to 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 reminds President George Weah that as the country prepares for elections next year, the stakes are obviously going to be higher.
The Bar therefore reiterates its call 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, it 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 as 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 concluded.
