“I Stand For Justice”

-Dr. Agnes Reeves Taylor Asserts

By Reuben Sei Waylaun: r.waylaun@newrepublicliberia.com

The ex-wife of convicted former Liberian President, Dr. Agnes Reeves Taylor says she stands for justice and the protection of civil liberty.

The former wife of Charles Taylor was charged in 2017 on multiple offences and jailed in a British cell in the United Kingdom on allegations of torture, murder, trafficking among others, she denied and those charges were later dropped.

According to her, she was arrested, put in prison without being confronted with any evidence. Mrs. Taylor claimed she was put in seclusion and denied access to her lawyer. She has been residing in the United Kingdom since 1998.

She was due to face trial for torture and conspiracy to torture relating to events alleged to have taken place in 1990, during Liberia’s gruesome civil war. More than 250,000 people are believed to have been killed during the civil war between 1989 and 2003.

Dr. Taylor has since returned to Liberia to rekindle her life. Addressing the media recently in Monrovia, Dr. Taylor said “I have nothing to fear, I have never done anything that amounts to torture, murder or any kind of war crimes.”  

“I want to emphasize that I stand for justice, the protection of civil liberty and the rule of law, and I join all those calling for the closure of the dark chapter in our country’s history,” she said.

Speaking further, Madam Taylor said she is available to the Liberian legal system to carefully examine what she calls ‘lies’ and to determine their credibility.

The 54 years old University Lecturer wants the Liberian judiciary to fully review the matter that subdued her to confinement that brought what she considers ‘mental and physical humiliation’ to her person on a foreign soil, the United Kingdom.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) report didn’t indict Mrs. Taylor on any category of war crimes. She described all charges against her as being ‘malicious, vicious, evil and inconsistent lies.’