Liberia: Death by Hanging

Mr. Hans Williams and Ms. Mardea Payku, convicted of murdering 13-year old girl Angel Togbah, will be hung on Friday, 26 March between 6am to 6pm, the judge has ordered.

Judge Dixon Blamo, delivering his verdict in an emotion packed trial that begun 2007, ordered that: "...Wherefore and in view of the foregoing facts and attending circumstances and the Laws controlling, it is the considered Final Verdict/Judgment of this Honorable Court that the Defendants, Hans C. Williams, Sr. and Mardia P. Williams, are hereby adjudged GUILTY of the Crime of Murder with immediate effect, in keeping with Section 14.1 of the New Penal Code of Liberia. The said Defendants are hereby SENTENCED to death by on Friday, March 26,2010 at Center Street South Beach from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. until death. The Clerk of Court is hereby ordered to address a communication to the President of Liberia to give effect to this Final Verdict/Judgment. The Clerk of Court is also ordered to issue a commitment upon conviction for death by hanging and have same placed in the hands of the Sheriff for service on the Superintendent of the Monrovia Central Prison compound.

However, international human rights groups, such as Amnesty International, opposed to the death penalty, are expected to repeat their campaign against the death sentence.

Source: New Democrat, March 23, 2010

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