ACC Star Witness Testifies in Court

Producer of the controversial timber documentary strand, Sorious Samura, took the witness stand on Friday June 22, in the High Court No. 2 of Sierra Leone. The strand: “Africa Investigate – Corruption,” screened on the Aljazeera TV network sometime in November of 2011 contained a series of indictments portraying the notion that corruption was commonplace in Sierra Leone’s timer industry – a concept.

Led by prosecution lawyer, Reginald S. Fyn in his testimony, Sorious said he came to Sierra Leone on two separate occasions with a team including his Director, Tim Healy and two co-presenters, Anas and Bilal, sometime in October and spent two weeks; and some other time between October 30 and November 12, 2011.

He said he briefed the President, Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, though not in detail, about his mission to shoot a documentary on deforestation and corruption in the timber industry in the country, which he consented before he proceeded into his mission. “Anas and Bilal, my co-presenters who took the role of undercover reporters in disguise for businessmen met with the accused (Momoh Konte) at his office in a set-up meeting arranged for the accused to help them enhance registration of a business”, said Sorious. On such a purpose, Sorious told the court that he used his co-presenters as undercover reporters in all the undertakings they had with the accused and he did not meet the accused personally.

The Aljazeera stringer said he and his team had a common knowledge of the fact that corruption was bed rocked in the timber industry in Sierra Leone and that they saw the need to target logging because it affects the natural environment of the country whilst unscrupulous individuals gain wealth by exploiting the forest reserve.

He said the strand concept was established to give African journalists the opportunity to tell their own stories.

Sorious disclosed that the network invited proposals from African journalists to undertake the program which he won on the basis that he was the only Sierra Leonean to be used for the timber logging documentary.

The court got confused in making sense of the journalistic language Sorious was using.  For example he used the word ‘strand’ to explain his film’s category in the broadcast domain whilst he also played with jargons such as scoop, character in the context of both journalism and film language which have variance in terms of legal understanding.

The defence team was keen to understand whether the clip in question is relevant to the want of evidence adduced in court to suffice the trial.

Lead Defense counsel for the accused person, Hon. Ajibola Manley Spaine had earlier agreed with the trial judge, Justice Abdulai H. Cham not to cross examine the witness on Friday being the first day the witness took to the testimony dock.

Apart from few inquiries made to secure context definition from the star witness, the trial judge did not allow judicial cross examination of the star witness scheduling the session for Monday June 25 this month.

Moreover, the witness climaxed his testimony with a projector screening in court the Digital Video Device (DVD) tendered in court as evidence for the trial.

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