Liberia Students in Ghana Want Speedy Trial for Linsu Embattled President

Accra — The Liberian Students Association-Ghana (LISA-GH) is calling on the Ministry of Justice for the speedy trial of the Presidentof the Liberia National Student Union (LINSU) Varney Jersey who has been incarcerated at the Monrovia Central Prison since November, 2016 on rape charge.

In a press statement, Cornelius Robert, the vice Presidentof LISA-GH said the prolonged detention of Jersey without trial has placed the student body in dilemma, adding that the pretrial detention of the LINSU Presidentis seriously hampering students' welfare at the University of Liberia.

"This call of appeal is coming after the association's leadership visited their colleague recently at the prison and observed that nothing has been done to start his trial process.

"The prolong detention of Mr. Jersey without adjudicating whether he committed the act or not has placed the entire student community into limbo.

It is based on this dilemma that LISA-GH is gravely concern about the pretrial detention of the LINSU Presidentin the struggle for students' prosperity at the state run university," the release stated.

Robert added that everyone under the law is equal and should be served justice, irrespective of the circumstances.

"It is barely less than a month now, we witnessed the trial of Brownie Samukai's son and he was acquitted of attempted murder charge. Thus, we are consciously appealing to the Ministry of Justice to intervene like it did in the case of the Defense Minister's son and other officials."

The release further stated that LISA-GH does not in any way support perpetrators of rape and other crimes against humanity.

"It is also worthy to measure that the insensitive or indifference attitude given to the case of Mr. Jersey by the Liberian government has the propensity to create violence in the country's fragile democracy, especially at this historic time, when Liberia looks towards the October 2017 elections.

"This is because the young people constitute about 65 percent of the population and those are the very group of people that Jersey led with authority and influence during his active service to the nation.

We must remember that he is imprisoned but his mind is not in prison. We have exhausted our patience and have refused to allow the culture of silence to distract our sense of solidarity.

It is our fervent hope that this release will re-enforce the vision of the Justice Ministry that seeks to "secure a peaceful Liberia where the rule of law prevails and justice is accessible to all," the press statement said.

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