US sanctions Liberia’s ex-warlord and senator Prince Johnson

By JONATHAN PAYE-LAYLEH
Associated Press

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — The U.S. government has sanctioned Liberia’s ex-warlord and current senator Prince Yormie Johnson for alleged corruption. The sanctions against Johnson come under the Global Magnitsky Act, which authorizes the U.S. government to sanction those it sees as human rights offenders, freeze their assets, and ban them from entering the U.S. Johnson was responsible for the slaying in 1990 of President Samuel Doe, who had been captured by his forces during the country’s 14-year civil war. Johnson sipped beer as he watched his men torture Doe. Now a trusted political ally of former international soccer star President George Weah, Johnson is accused in a U.S. embassy statement of large-scale corruption.