NOT ABOVE THE LAW: "I would like to use this opportunity to emphasize that no private citizen or official is above the law and entitled to act with impunity against law enforcement officials who are trying to promote public safety and respect for the rule of law”.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, in a statement issued in Monrovia Monday. At right, CDC's Acarous Gray addresses the controversy at a news conference Monday.
Monrovia - In the aftermath of the flogging police patrolman Lexington Beh unmercifully on Saturday night at the Zone Eight Depot CheckPoint along the Monrovia-Robertsfield Highway, the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) of football legend George Weah has justifiably provided reasons for the allegedly beating carried out by ‘thugs’ reportedly hired by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tokpah Mulbah (Bong County).
Patrolman Beh receiving care at the John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Monrovia.
The home of the Deputy Speaker was besieged for over 12 hours Sunday by members of the Liberia National Police (LNP) as they attempted to arrest him for his alleged brutalizing of Patrolman Beh who remained unconscious up to the press time Sunday evening.
At a press briefing held at the party’s headquarters Monday, the CDC’s Acting Secretary-General, Acarous Gray, defended the actions of Deputy Speaker Mulbah on the grounds that officer Beh used his uniform as a shield and insulted the lawmaker by throwing him (Mulbah) on the ground.
‘CDCian’ Gray told journalists that the Deputy Speaker, not prepared to abandon the official of government to the brutality and disadvantage of the office he described as a drunken police and two occupants of the impounded truck who he did not name, reportedly rushed to Deputy Speaker Mulbah’s defense, restraining and subduing the aggression of the man in uniform against the Deputy House Speaker.
Gray said with the reliable details emanating from the testaments of those he referred to as independent eyewitness, the CDC is ‘disheartened’ at the subjective face-saving and damage-control method employed by the Liberia National police (LNP), which he said has resulted to the arbitrary use of excessive force, illegal entry and orchestrated act of wreckage against the premises of Deputy Speaker Mulbah and family members.
However, the United States Embassy accredited here has called on the government to conduct an investigation into the flogging of Beh.
US Ambassador Linda-Thomas Greenfield has described the incident as a sad turn of events.
“I would like to use this opportunity to emphasize that no private citizen or official is above the law and entitled to act with impunity against law enforcement officials who are trying to promote public safety and respect for the rule of law”, Ambassador Greenfield said in a press release issued Monday.
The U.S. envoy said she was appalled to learn that Beh, an officer of the Liberia National Police, was beaten and hospitalized after a July 10 incident reportedly involving employees and supporters of Deputy House Speaker Togba Mulbah. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Patrolman Beh and members of his family. The U.S. Embassy wishes him a speedy recovery."
