Lawyers representing former House Speaker Cllr. Jonathan Fonati Koffa and three of his colleagues have filed a motion requesting that Criminal Court “A” Judge Roosevelt Z. Willie suppress evidence provided by the government in the ongoing Capitol Building arson case.
By: Kruah Thompson
Monrovia, September 3, 2025: The defense argued that the extraction of the evidence that was turned over to them, which includes the audio recordings and WhatsApp messages allegedly implicating the defendants, was done without a search warrant.
According to defense lawyers, the evidence was extracted in December and turned over to the National Security Agency (NSA), which conducted the forensic analysis of the evidence.
The lawyers argued that because government investigators knew that these procedural defects would be questioned at the level of the trial, one month later, on January 9, 2025, they requested a search and seizure to say that the evidence was collected on January 9 when in fact they had already gathered and seized the evidence in December.
“Therefore, without a search warrant and an application to the court requesting a search warrant, the evidence gathered by the police is faulty. And as a result of this procedural error, all other evidence collected as a result of the illegal conduct carried out by the NSA and the Police must be suppressed, meaning it can’t be used against them”. the defense noted.
The defense team also argued that the NSA is not a criminal investigation agency; therefore, it has no authority to investigate an arson case.
“And all the evidence provided by the government, including arson investigation, the extraction of evidence, and the cyber security unit in December 2024, when the search warrant talked about January 5, 2025, has an NSA signature on them; therefore, these evidences need to be suppressed.” They noted.
On December 18, 2024, the Capitol Building in Monrovia was set ablaze, resulting in significant damage. The fire occurred amid heightened political tensions following Koffa’s removal as House Speaker by the Majority Bloc.
Prosecutors alleged that the arson was a coordinated effort by opposition lawmakers and associates, including Former Speaker J. Fonati Koffa, Representatives Dixon Seboe, Abu Kamara, Jacob Debee, and others, to disrupt legislative proceedings. Charges against them include arson, attempted murder, conspiracy, and illegal possession of firearms.
In August 2025, the defense filed a petition at the Supreme Court, challenging Judge Willie’s rulings on bail bonds filed by the defendants, alleging violations of constitutional rights.
In the ruling, Judge Willie approved a US$500,000 property bond for six defendants, including Koffa, allowing their release.
However, despite the bond approval, the defendants were not immediately released. The judge delayed their release pending the prosecution’s formal exceptions to the bond’s validity, leading to claims of unlawful detention.
Subsequently, Judge Willie imposed stringent bail conditions, including requiring four human sureties per defendant and proof of property ownership. These conditions were criticized by defense attorneys as excessively harsh and potentially unconstitutional, arguing that they violated the defendants’ constitutional rights.
The defense filed a petition for a writ of certiorari, seeking to overturn Judge Willie’s bail rulings. However, on August 29, 2025, the Supreme Court of Liberia declined to issue the writ, directing Judge Willie to resume full jurisdiction over the trial. The high court’s decision effectively upheld the judge’s bail rulings, allowing the trial to proceed under his oversight.
However, when the trial proceedings resumed on September 2, 2025, defense attorneys continued to contest the prosecution’s evidence and procedural fairness.
Speaking in a short interview after the hearing, Cllr. Arthur T. Johnson explained that the defense team has argued that, in the criminal procedure law, you can file a motion with the magistrate’s court. Still, you can also file a motion to suppress the evidence in the court that has trial jurisdiction, and the court with trial jurisdiction is Criminal Court A.
“And because criminal court A has trial authority, you will always find that when there’s an indictment that has been served on a party, there’s something called discovery, under the guise of notice to compare the prosecution to turn over all the evidence it has against their claim,” he continued.
Therefore, he says, “when the evidence is presented, you will look at it, and if you have any reason to question the evidence, that is the stage of the trial procedure, and that’s the process they are following.
You did what you wanted to do already, then you went for a search and seizure in January, so it is illegal, it can’t stand. It is not anything like sentiment or tactic, but it is an issue of law.”
He says the NSA has no authority to investigate arson case; they are only responsible for national security intelligence, and the functions they can employ are only defined in their act creating them. “So even the ministry of justice or the president cannot delegate to the NSA an authority they do not have statutory responsibility to perform.”
“So that is the issue before the court. Authority is not inferred by consent but by law, which means the Supreme Court says the act that created you is the one that gives you the authority to perform a function. And if the act did not expressly state you can do this, and you do anything outside of the authority of the act, your actions are called ultra vires.
But amid disputes over evidence suppression, Judge Willie ordered the transfer of all Capitol arson defendants from Kakata Central Prison back to Monrovia Central Prison. He cited legal jurisdiction and the defendants’ right to counsel, emphasizing that their prolonged detention in Kakata undermined their right to effective legal representation.
Meanwhile, Criminal Court “A” judge Roosevelt Z. Willie, after listening to both parties, has reserved ruling in the matter. -Edited by Othello B. Garblah
