Liberia: Saudi Rice Trial: Gbassay Rejects Guilty Verdict, Declares Innocence, Alleges Pressure to Become State Witness

The ordained Baptist minister says she refused to testify for the prosecution, and warns that the pursuit of accountability must not become “score-settling masquerading as justice” MONROVIA — Days after a jury at Criminal Court “C” adjudged her guilty in the Saudi Rice corruption case, former National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) official Rosetta L. Gbassay Bowah has rejected the verdict, declaring her innocence in a Facebook post. By Selma Lomax, selma. lomax@frontpageafricaonline. com In the lengthy statement, she thanked family, friends, colleagues and fellow clergy for an outpouring of prayers, encouragement, solidarity and love since Friday. She said the support had “renewed my confidence in the face of circumstances that were clearly intended to break me.

” As the legal process continues, she said, she wishes to reassure her supporters of her “absolute innocence” and her confidence that “the truth will ultimately prevail. ” Central to her statement is an allegation that she was pressured to cooperate with the prosecution. Gbassay Bowah said that if she has committed any “crime,” it is that she faithfully performed her lawful duties in accordance with her Terms of Reference and the obligations of her office. She added that her other “crime” may be that she refused what she described as persistent efforts by her accuser and the prosecutors to persuade her to “cooperate” by serving as a State witness. The post offers no evidence for the claim, and it has not been independently verified. Her position, however, was unequivocal. “As a servant of the living God, an ordained Baptist Reverend,” she said, she could never conspire to testify falsely against any person or speak of matters about which she has no knowledge. “My conscience is not for sale,” she wrote. She…