Opinion ID: 150723
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: 2002 Torture of Varmyan Dulleh (Count Six)

Text: The jury also heard extensively from torture victim Varmyan Dulleh. Dulleh was a student at the University of Monrovia and had joined the Student Unification Party, an organization advocating social justice and peace. He was also a member of the Mandingo ethnic group, which was known to have opposed President Taylor during the civil war. In addition, Dulleh's uncle was the former leader of a group that had sought to overthrow the prior Liberian president, and who had run against Taylor in a subsequent election. On July 24, 2002, armed gunmen, including ATU soldiers, arrested Dulleh at his home on the charge that he sought to overthrow President Taylor. After Dulleh was interrogated, the Liberian Police Director took him to Whiteflower. At Whiteflower, Dulleh denied any involvement in attempting to overthrow Taylor's government. President Taylor ordered that Dulleh be placed in the custody of General Benjamin Yeaten, the head of Liberia's Special Security Service. Yeaten was instructed to beat Dulleh until he told the truth. When Dulleh again denied knowing anything, Yeaten took him to his garage, ordered soldiers to put a dirty rag in his mouth, and burned him with a heated clothes iron on his arm, back, stomach, and foot. The defendant Emmanuel arrived while the abuse was in progress, and watched as Dulleh was branded. After Dulleh again denied any involvement in rebel activities, Yeaten poured scalding water onto his head and back, and into his hands. Emmanuel pointed a gun at Dulleh's head and told him not to drop any of the scalding water in his hands. Emmanuel also shocked Dulleh's neck, back, and genitals with a cattle prod. Both Emmanuel and Yeaten then threatened to kill Dulleh, and soldiers poured salt into his wounds. After this savage beating, Dulleh was confined for almost a year, mostly in filthy conditions. At first, he was imprisoned with other individuals in a shallow cement hole beneath a disused truck scale at Klay Junction. The steel grate on the underside of the scale shut out the light, and the hole, which was at most three feet deep, was partially flooded with filthy water, contained animals such as toads and snakes, and emitted a vile stench. While imprisoned at Klay Junction, Dulleh told the other prisoners that he had been tortured and beaten by Emmanuel; they observed the burns and fresh wounds on his body. About two weeks later, Dulleh was removed from the hole at Klay Junction and flown by helicopter to an undisclosed location, where he was confined for a month in an abandoned outhouse. Finally, he was held at the National Bureau of Investigation in Monrovia for ten months. Dulleh was released on July 11, 2003, in response to international pressure from the United States ambassador, the Catholic Church, and human rights groups. Despite the fact that Liberian courts were open and operating, Dulleh was never charged with any crime, brought before a court, or allowed to see an attorney. He fled Liberia within a week of his release, and was granted asylum in the United States in 2005.