“Culprits” On Gallows : TO DIE OR NOT TO DIE ...

At long last the Day of Judgment--freedom or penalty--has come for two former top soldiers of the Armed forces of Liberia . The Government of Liberia under Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, which has been parading with these men as culprits in alleged attempts to violently overthrow the first post-conflict political regime, has exhausted its reservoir of evidence for which it has been holding the two ethnic Krahn tribesmen for treason. Lawyers of the accused have similarly emptied their defense arsenal. With the jury in the case squashed months again in controversies that marred the first verdict--the verdict of quilt--of this landmark political trial, the near-omnipotent singular authority lies with Judge Peter W. Gbeneweleh, assigned Circuit Judge of the Criminal Court “A”. With Political Editor Sherman C. Seequeh, Ora Garway reports on heightened public anxiety for the final ruling today of the marathon treason trial.

The premises of the Temple of Justice , the seat of the country's judicial dispensation, are expected to be stormed today by unusual swarms of visitors.

Less than three months ago the Temple of Justice played host to similar upsurge of visitors who had gone to see and hear how the nearly two-year trial would end.

But it all ended hilariously when the final verdict, which brought down the alleged culprits--Charles Julu and Andrew Borbor--guilty, was caught in the throes of controversy over jury tempering and insufficiency of evidence.

In today's final judgment, there would be no empanelled jurors. All lies with a longtime legal practitioner, Judge Peter W. Gbeneweleh, expected to delve into the avalanche of facts and fantasies of testimonies, sifter them and tell open court and the wide world today why Julu and Dorbor should or should not be acquittal.

The treason trial attracted so much public interest not merely because it is the first rebellion reported by the Sirleaf administration in the face of massive recovery and development programs underway, but also because treason or rebellion is constitute a dimension of Liberia 's unending political imbroglio.

When information about the case first leaked and spread like wildfire in the country and beyond, reactions were understandably mixed.

There were some who thought--and probably still feel--that the pronouncement of subversion by the government was or still is a replica of the country's notorious coup politics, a stratagem of the ruling class to create tense security atmosphere by means of faking subversion and use the ploy to silence and eliminate opposition elements deemed formidable.

Others, on the other hand, went wild, or probably still going wild, with the belief that there some Liberians, along with their foreign supporters, who don't want to see peace and stability except they got to the throne of power.

This school of thought was or is given some kind of legally quasi backing from the role of one of the principal accusers, Charles Julu.

Julu, a former commander of Armed Forces of Liberia Executive Mansion Guard Battalion under the regime of late President Samuel K. Doe, besides the lingering treason charge, has to his credit or notoriety at least two records of rebellion against the Liberian state.

It was, or probably still is, the thinking of some Liberians that there could be some amount of fire whence comes the smoke.

Another string of strong public anxiety over the pronouncement of the treason case came from alarms made months earlier by officials of the Sirleaf government that rebellious plots were underway.

Frances Johnson-Morris, former Justice Minister of Liberia who headed the Elections Commission that superintendent the 2005 elections, was loud in her alarms when the government was less than ten months old that subversive operatives were plotting the overthrow.

Though Morris never answered to queries from political parties, civil society leaders and some members who apparently felt edgy about the alarm regarding details and specificities of the so-called pending coup, the later official pronouncements of treason implicating Julu, Dorbor and now un-adjudged and president-pardoned George Koukou, stretched the nerves of many.

Following the long legal rigmarole which characterized the treason proceedings, Criminal Court “A” at the Temple of Justice Judge Peter Gbeneweleh is expected to hand down a verdict after more than 42 days of sitting.

The two former soldiers were about a year ago accused by the Liberian Government of planning to overthrow the elected government of President Sirleaf. Dorbor was arrested in the Ivory Coast in February 2007and brought to Liberia in April and subsequently detained at the National Security Agency (NSA).

Julu was later arrested by Liberian security in July 2007 and incarcerated; the two defendants have categorically denied knowledge of coup plot against the government. The prosecution during the trial produced 7 witnesses.

For the defense, three witnesses were produced. Interestingly, the prosecution claimed one of its witnesses Junior Gaye was an insider witness, who was part of the alleged coup plot.

Junior in his testimony said Julu sent Dorbor and Ephraim Gaye to him to the Ivory Coast to negotiate with an Ivorian army commander for arms, ammunition and military uniforms.

Ephraim and Junior are two brothers and the nephews of defendant Julu's wife, Janet Julu.

But Ephraim, rebutting the testimony of his elder brother Junior, said his brother was paid by the Liberian Government to lie on the accused.

He said his brother at one time offered him US$1,500 to serve as state witness against the accused but he refused.

During the first trial in which Judge Charles Williams presided, the accused were brought down guilty by a 12-man empanelled jury.

The verdict was challenged by defense lawyers who filed a motion for re-trial and was granted by the court.

This time around the trial is being heard without jury.

It is not clear what Judge Gbeneweleh's verdict would be. What is certain, however, is it got to be only one of the two: Freedom or Conviction.

When convicted, the two men would be sentenced to death or life imprisonment.

Legal commentators say in an instance of conviction not satisfactory to the defense, the matter could reach the Supreme Court, the final arbiter of justice.