Liberia: Swiss Rights Advocate to Give Deposition in US$15M Defamation Lawsuit

Swiss human rights advocate Alain Werner will have to answer questions under oath while residing in his native homeland to start the US$15 million defamation lawsuit lodged against him by Agnes Reeves Taylor.

Werner's deposition request was granted by Judge Kennedy Peabody of Civil Law Court 'A', despite strong opposition from Taylor's lawyer. However, there has been no no scheduled reach for Werner and other key defense witnesses who reside out of the bailiwick of this jurisdiction to be deposited. 

Taylor’s lawyer argued that the parties had already concluded the discovery process in fifteen months and that any attempt to grant Werner and other key witnesses deposition would be detrimental to  the case.

Peabody however sided with Taylor’s lawyer’s argument but said in the interest of justice and fair play, “this court is inclined to grant the motion to continue to afford the defense the opportunity to apply for the disposition.”

“The court also mandated and ordered the parties to file their pretrial memorandum with the listing of their witnesses and what those witnesses are to testify to if any and alone with their exhibits,” Peabody said. “Both parties knew and should have known that the trial should have been heard today. However, the fact that the defense lawyers informed this court that he wishes to file a petition for deposition, the request is being granted.”

Taylor, the ex-wife of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, had claimed Werner and his Liberian collaborator Hassan Bility provided false testimony that led to her arrest on June 2, 2017 in London by the Metropolitan Police.

Her lawyers had argued that the judge is aware that the parties have concluded with the motions and law issues, and the judge has ruled the case to trial on merit; and, if Peabody were to grant the request for postponement, it would mean they would be delaying the cause of action, at the detriment of Taylor. 

Taylor is seeking US$5 million as punitive damages and US$10 million as general damages for the mental anguish she experienced at the result of Werner and Bility's testimonies.

Under defamation law, Taylor must prove that Werner and Bility either knowingly spread false information or did so with reckless disregard for the truth, meaning that they had reason to believe that the information they provided for her prosecution in the UK was false.

Taylor was arrested on June 2, 2017 in London by the Metropolitan Police and charged with torture on the grounds of her suspected involvement with the NPFL rebel group, which was led by her ex-husband during the first Liberian civil war, from 1989 to 1996.

However, the case was dismissed by the London Central Criminal Court on grounds that the evidence presented by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) failed to prove that the NPFL had the requisite authority over the relevant territory at the time the crimes in question were committed. 

Taylor’s prosecution in the UK, according to Massaquoi, stemmed from claims by Werner and Bility that she committed alleged war crimes while she was a member of the rebel group, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), a claim that prompted the prosecution by the Metropolitan Police.