For the second time, a choice for a local medical facility to conduct examinations on six of the detained defendants in the Capitol arson case to determine whether they were subjected to ill-treatment while in the custody of state security agencies has been rejected.
Represented by their lawyers, the defendants, on yesterday, Wednesday, September 10, objected to the selection of AMI Expeditionary Healthcare Medical Center.
Yesterdays was the rejection of a second court-mandated hospital, after they refused to accept Judge Roosevelt Willie of Criminal Court ‘A’, requesting to use the John F. Kennedy Medical Center for the examination.
The defense team’s argument of rejecting the court-mandated hospital was because, according to the lawyers, the AMI is an existing contract facility of the Government of Liberia by and through the Ministry of Justice and the Liberia National Police.
To prove this, the defense lawyers argued that when Co-defendant Thomas Etheridge was arrested, tortured and compelled to confess, he collapsed and he was taken to AMI, where they determined that he collapsed due to malaria despite the torture and beating he has received.
They further argued AMI is the same as JFK and the defendants do not trust the integrity of the AMI Hospital.
“The Defense requested Your Honor to an independent examination by any independent facility not connected to the Government of Liberia. AMI and JFK are both connected to the Government and the fact that the Prosecution interposed no objection to the Motion as filed,” they said, justifying their decision.
Meanwhile, Judge Roosevelt Willie of Criminal Court A reserved his ruling.
The dramatic courtroom scene started when Judge Roosevelt Willie on yesterday ruled granting the defendants motion for Independent medical examination on the argument that they were tortured and forced to confess to their individual involvement in the burning of the Capitol Building last December.
They however requested the court to deny that evidence, which is key to the prosecution’s case.
In that ruling, Judge Willie stated that his decision to accept the defendant’s motion was due to the prosecution’s not objecting to it.
Thereafter, the judge selected the AMI Expeditionary Healthcare Medical Center as the ideal place for the examination. That hospital is located on 1st Street, Tubman Boulevard, Sinkor, Monrovia, Liberia, opposite the United Nations Building.
“The hospital is hereby selected by this Court for the defendants to be proceeded there by the prison authority to conduct their medical examination for torture and sodomy,” Willie emphasized.
According to Willie, the AMI Expeditionary Medical Healthcare is an international acclaimed institution and operates in several countries to include but not limited to the United States of America (USA), South Africa, Sierra Leone, Liberia, etc.
After publicly lavishing praise of the hospital international reputation, Willie proceeded to mandate his clerk to write to the said institution for the examination to be conducted and results forwarded to this Court on or before Wednesday, September 17, 2025, at 3:00pm.
He however ordered the Ministry of Justice, the prosecution to underwrite the cost of these examinations.
It can be recalled that the defense lawyers formally objected to a court order mandating medical examinations at the government-run John F. Kennedy Medical Center (JFK).
The defense instead filed a motion requesting an independent medical examination, alleging that several of the defendants were subjected to torture and abuse while in the custody of state security agencies.
The dispute arose after Criminal Court ‘A’ Judge Roosevelt Willie ordered JFK to medically assess six of the detained defendants to determine whether they had been tortured or sodomized during their time in National Security Agency (NSA) custody. The judge’s order stemmed from the defendants’ claims that key evidence—such as NSA phone call logs—had been extracted through coercion and abuse.
“The Court realized that there is one ground that is factual, and that ground is torture and sodomization,” Judge Willie stated. “So, the Court decided not to do the ruling today but to find out through medical investigation as to whether the defendants were tortured.”
He then directed the court clerk to liaise with JFK, via the Monrovia Central Prison, to conduct the medical examination and report findings to the Court by Tuesday, September 9, 2025.
However, the defense lawyers objected to the court’s reliance on JFK, citing its affiliation with the Government of Liberia and a formal memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Justice to provide medical services for pretrial detainees and prisoners.
They argued that such a relationship creates a conflict of interest and undermines the credibility of any medical assessment conducted by JFK.
