POSITION STATEMENT OF THE FOUR COLLABORATING POLITICAL PARTIES ON THE GROWING TREND OF POLITICAL PERSECUTION AGAINST THE OPPOSITION COMMUNITY AND PEOPLE WHO CHAMPION OPPOSITION CAUSES

The Collaborating Political Parties (CPP) supra-mentioned are deeply concerned about the growing state of insecurity beclouding our Liberia. Our country has, once again, returned to the dark days; our most recent history of respect for the rights of Liberian citizens has, once again, eroded.  Mr. Henry Costa and Rep. Yekeh Kolubah, two critical voices in the opposition community, are being systematically targeted and subjected to political persecution by the Liberian Government. 

We strongly condemn these wanton acts of repressive political harassment and call on the Liberian Government to immediately cease the harassment and persecution against Costa and Kolubah. The CPP believes that Mr. Costa and Rep. Kolubah are being persecuted purely for their political views and open disagreement with the leadership of the Liberian Government.

Mr. Henry Costa and Rep. Yekeh Kolubah, both fierce critics of President George Weah have committed no crimes in Liberia. Their only “crimes” have been because they are unapologetically critical of the Weah’s Administration, and have succeeded in organizing two mass protests that exposed the incompetence and bad governance of the Liberian Government.

Mr. Costa is a known and visible public figure whose movement in and out of Liberia is done in full public glare. Mr. Costa is well known to nearly all law enforcement officers. He visibly entered Liberia on December 19, 2019 to a rousing welcome of supporters at the only international airport in Liberia, and triumphantly paraded through the streets and highways of Liberia with his supporters.

He presented his travelling document to immigration officials at Robert International Airport, who certified that the documents were genuine and authentic and thus endorsed his entry into Liberian territory. He stayed in Liberia for about three weeks and visibly interacted with officials of the Justice Ministry on his planned protest.

Never a time did the Ministry of Justice of which the Liberian Immigration Service is a part, raised any issue about the legitimacy of the Mr. Costa’s travelling document.  That the Liberian Government will now fabricate that Mr. Costa forged travelling document for which he is consistently being harassed, persecuted and prevented from leaving Liberia is ludicrous and unacceptable. Mr. Costa is entitled to depart and enter Liberia at will as long as he has not broken any laws. This is his constitutionally guaranteed right. The CPP demands that Mr. Costa be allowed to travel to his desire destination.  

Representative Yekeh Kolubah is being prosecuted on bogus and trumped-up charges, drawn up purposely by the Liberian Government to silence him. The recent diabolical attempt by the Liberian National Police to frame Rep. Kolubah into illegal gun possession clearly exposed the desperation of the Weah government to incriminate opposition figures into crimes that do not exist.

We do not have any shred of trust or confidence in the Weah Administration to be honest and just in handling the Costa and Yekeh’s issues.  We therefore demand that the Government speedily constitute an independent committee to probe and evaluate the government’s claims against Costa and Yekeh. We demand that the committee comprise members of the international community, civil society, Christian and Moslem leaders. Consequently, we strongly warn the Liberian Government to take no action until that independent committee has completed its findings.

Additionally, the CPP wish to officially inform the public that we have written the Government of Sierra Leone NOT to return Mr. Henry Pedro Costa to Liberia. It is our understanding that the Liberian Government has requested the Sierra Leonean authorities to return Mr. Costa to Liberia.

We call on the Government of Sierra Leone to meet its international human rights obligation and reject the request as Mr. Costa has committed no crime in Liberia. Under international human rights law, the principle of non-refoulement guarantees that no one should be returned to a country where they would be subjected to persecution, face torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and other irreparable harm. This principle applies to Mr. Costa 

Non-refoulement prohibits States Sierra Leone from transferring or removing Henry Costa from its jurisdiction or effective control since there are substantial grounds to believe that Mr. Costa will be at risk of irreparable harm upon return, including persecution, denial of fair trail, or other serious human rights violations. International Courts and international human rights mechanisms have interpreted the prohibition against refoulement to apply to a range of serious human rights violations, flagrant denial of the right to a fair trial, risks of violations to the rights to life, integrity and/or freedom of the person.

UNITY PARTY (UP)

LIBERTY PARTY (LP)

ALL LIBERIAN PARTY (ALP)

ALTERNATIVE NATIONAL CONGRESS (ANC)