By Yassah J. Wright
Former House Speaker J. Fonati Koffa and others have pleaded “not guilty to the indictment.”
This means the accused have joined issue with the government lawyers into a full trial.
Koffa and codefendants are on trial for their reported hands in the December 18, 2024, burning of a section of the Capitol Building.
The building houses the Upper (senate) and Lower House (representatives).
A juror selection process was immediately requested by the prosecution, and that request was granted by Judge Roosevelt Z. Willie of Criminal Court ‘A’.
However, Judge Willie decided that said jurors’ selection process starts on Tuesday, November 18, 2025.
He further said the case should resume today Tuesday, November 18, 2025.
On October, 9, 2025, the Justice-in-Chamber, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Jamesetta Howard Wolokollie, declined to issue the alternative writ of certiorari in the capitol arson case involving Koffa and 14 others, after Criminal Court ‘A’ Judge denied their 32 counts motion to suppress evidence.
This decision, critics said, has sent shockwaves through legal and human rights communities.
The case has drawn significant public interest due to the gravity of the charges and the involvement of multiple national security institutions.
Some of the defendants are currently being incarcerated at the Monrovia Central Prison pending court trial.
The hearing continues.