Liberia’s Kemayah appeals 10-year prison sentence
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Front Page Africa
Liberian Foreign Minister Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah and his co-defendants, sentenced to 10 years in prison in the Saudi rice case, have appealed to Liberia’s Supreme Court. Criminal Court C had rejected their request for a new trial before handing down the sentences in Monrovia, according to Front Page Africa.
Former Liberian Foreign Minister Dee-Maxwell Saah Kemayah and several co-defendants convicted in the $500,000 Saudi rice case announced on Friday that they would appeal to the Supreme Court of Liberia. Their decision came after Criminal Court ‘C’ rejected a request for a new trial and handed down the sentences, according to Front Page Africa.
Kemayah and some of his co-defendants were sentenced to 10 years in prison, while other defendants received five-year sentences, according to court proceedings reported by Front Page Africa. The request for a new trial, heard on 6 November, challenged the verdict delivered by a jury on 9 October in a case involving 13 defendants suspected of misappropriating humanitarian rice donated to Liberia by Saudi Arabia.
The trial lasted more than 40 days. After Criminal Court ‘C’ rejected the request, the defence now intends to challenge the jury’s verdicts, the rejection of the new trial and the sentences before the Supreme Court, according to Front Page Africa.
This new proceeding comes after the convictions of former Liberian ministers in the Saudi rice case, handed down on 9 October. On 9 October, four former Liberian officials found guilty in the Saudi rice trial had also been found guilty.
