Lawrence Swen, a citizen of Liberia, is seeking asylum after an inheritance dispute within his family escalated into threats, violence, and persecution that left him fearing for his life.
The conflict began following the death of a close family member, when disagreements arose over the division of inherited land, property, and financial assets. Under customary Liberian law, Swen was entitled to a share of the inheritance, owing to his immediacy and loyalty to the deceased. But powerful relatives, particularly male family members, refused to recognize his rights.
In Swen’s community, inheritance is often controlled by influential male relatives, and challenging their authority can bring severe consequences. Swen indicates that when he insisted on claiming what the local law granted him, tensions quickly turned hostile with family members issuing threats, while warning him to abandon his claim or face serious repercussions.
Those threats soon became reality. Swen reports being physically assaulted, verbally abused, and repeatedly warned that continuing to pursue the inheritance would put his life in danger. The intimidation was relentless, creating an atmosphere of constant fear.
According to Swen, who is currently in South Korea, his relatives wield significant influence in the community and used that power to silence him. False rumors were spread to damage his reputation, and he became socially isolated. He was followed and harassed, forced to live cautiously, always afraid of being attacked.
Desperate for protection, Swen sought help from local authorities, but his pleas went reportedly unanswered. Police dismissed his reports as a “private family matter,” refusing to intervene. In some cases, officers appeared to side with his relatives, influenced by corruption and family connections. The state, he says, failed entirely to protect him.
As the situation worsened, Swen was forced to flee his home and go into hiding, moving from place to place to avoid being found. Even then, his relatives continued searching for him. He received messages warning that if he did not return and surrender his inheritance claim, he would be killed or permanently harmed.
With no safe place left in Liberia coupled with the high level of distrust he had in legal authorities for his protection, Swen made the painful decision to flee the country, stressing that his departure was not motivated by economic hardship, but by an urgent need to survive.
“If I return, my family will find me, and the threats they made will be carried out. The authorities will not protect me, just as they failed before,” says Lawrence.
As he informs this this medium that he now seeking asylum, Swen hopes for the opportunity to live without fear and to rebuild his life in safety, adding that his account is true and correct to the best of his knowledge.