Rights and advocacy groups for the establishment of the War and Economic Crimes Court have condemned the nomination of Cianeh Clinton-Johnson as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Liberia.
The group believes that Cllr. Clinton-Johnson’s presence on the Supreme Court’s bench will undermine the objectives for the establishment of the War and Economic Crimes Court for Liberia.
They want President Joseph Nyuma Boakai to withdraw the nomination of Associate Justice designate Johnson immediately.
The Advocacy group claims that the nomination of Johnson is untimely and not in the best interest of the country at this time. Cllr. Cianeh Clinton-Johnson is the wife of Cllr. Lavala Koboi Johnson, who served as Justice Minister in the Charles Taylor administration.
They argued further that the nominee is not best suited for Associate Justice of the High Court.
The rights and advocacy groups through their respective representatives insisted that Clinton-Johnson’s nomination on the high court’s bench would compromise the justice system, strengthen the arms of war and economic crimes perpetrators, who associated and worked in the Taylor regime.
The group called on the president to take note that gathering from their advocacy records of the violation of the rights of pretrial detainees, Judge Clinton-Johnson is on record for denying suspects’ access to justice.
They attributed her violation of the rights of pretrial detainees to her inability to successfully tried cases. They called on President Boakai to immediately withdraw her nomination as maintaining her would mean reverting to business as usual.
They insist further that nomination to such high office must be on the merits of the nominee’s past performances, which they claimed is not the case with Cllr. Clinton-Johnson.
