The Cestos City Magisterial Court in Rivercess County, has dropped criminal coercion charge against one of two Liberian journalists.
The two journalists were accused of falsely publishing incriminating information against police officer Ojuku Weeks.
The decision to drop the charge against journalist Methuselah Gaye, was made at the request of the State Prosecutor or County Attorney, Martin N. Tumoe, acting on behalf of officer Weeks, a private prosecutor.
Attorney-At-Law Tumoe informed the Court on Wednesday, September 3, 2025, that journalist Methuselah Gaye, has been apologetic and remorseful unlike his colleague Eric Opa Doue, since both journalists published the incriminating information against his person on August 11, 2025.
The Magistrate of the Cestos Magisterial Court Dixon Yeahgar, scheduled last Monday, September 8, 2025, for ruling into the criminal coercion charge against journalist Doue.
A formal hearing was conducted on September 3, 2025, where Attorney-At-Law Bruce Boweh represented both journalists, and informed the Court that the journalists were in error in their reportage.
Atty. Boweh, has meanwhile, traveled to the county to represent the legal interest of journalist Doue at the request of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL).
The trip by Boweh is the third in less than a month since the journalists were first held on the charge of Criminal Contempt of Court by the Yarpah Town Magisterial Court, a charge that was later dropped after legal pleading by the PUL lawyer.
The PUL is hopeful that with the admission in Court by both journalists Gaye and Doue that the information published against officer Weeks was false and misleading, the charge against Doue, who has since issued an apology and retraction, would also be dropped.
Doue through Atty. Boweh, expressed his apology to officer Weeks for the publication of inaccurate information that linked him to being arrested with narcotics and acts of bribery.
Meanwhile, Atty. Boweh has recommended that going forward, the PUL must sanction journalists, who publish false and misleading information against the reputations of individuals as this constitutes a breach of the code of ethics and conduct for journalists.
The PUL is working to reform the National Media Council of Liberia, formerly the Grievance and Ethics Committee, responsible to investigate and recommend actions, including penalties against journalists found to be in violations of the ethical code and conduct of journalism.
It is also important to note that the PUL is concerned over the use of the criminal coercion provision of the Penal Law of Liberia to prosecute journalists, especially where the information has already been published rather than being a case of threatening to publish.