Ex-warlord who filmed a president's torture dies aged 72

Former Liberian warlord and senator Prince Johnson has died at the age of 72. Johnson shocked the world with his brutal methods, and remained active in politics after the civil war, being elected as a senator in 2006.

Siafa Jallah, the Deputy Director of Press Relations for the Liberian Senate, stated that Johnson died today at a local hospital in Paynesville, a suburb of Monrovia. During the Liberian civil war, which spanned from 1989 to 2003, mass killings, torture, and sexual violence resulted in the deaths of approximately 250,000 people.

Johnson was listed as one of the "most notorious perpetrators" by the country's post-war Truth and Reconciliation Commission, accused of crimes including murder, extortion, massacres, torture, and rape. None of the eight warring faction leaders listed by the commission, including Johnson, were tried in Liberia. However, a few were convicted overseas, including former President Charles Taylor, who is currently serving a 50-year sentence in the UK.

Earlier this year, President Joseph Boakai signed an executive order to establish a long-awaited war crimes court to bring justice to victims of the civil war, but the court has not yet begun operating. Liberian human rights advocate Adama Dempster said that it is regrettable that Johnson died without testifying before this court. "This is sad, and has significant implications for the accountability process," he said.

In 1990, Johnson, then 38 years old, led rebels in an invasion of Monrovia and captured former President Samuel Doe, whom he tortured on camera. In the video, Johnson is seen sitting in a chair with his legs crossed, holding a bottle of beer, taunting the former president while watching his men strip the president, cut off his ears, and watch the blood flow down his temples. President Doe later died, and according to a witness's testimony to the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Johnson later displayed Doe's head.

Around the same time, Johnson executed a Red Cross aid worker wearing a vest, accusing him of profiteering from rice sales. An Associated Press photographer who witnessed the scene reported that the victim briefly looked up and asked "Why, why?" before Johnson riddled him with bullets from an AK-47. After the war, Johnson became a born-again Christian and an ordained minister, later being elected as a senator representing Nimba County.

The country has banned the sale of videotapes of Doe's torture, which were once widely available on street stalls. Mohammed Jabateh, a rebel commander who, according to witnesses, cut a baby from a pregnant woman's womb, killed civilians, and ordered soldiers to rape young girls, was sentenced to 30 years in prison in the United States.