Martina Johnson

Martina Johnson, a Liberian citizen, was allegedly a former artillery commander of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL). On 17 September 2014, she was arrested in Belgium, where she had resided since 2003. She is suspected of having committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the first Liberian Civil War. Shortly after her arrest, she was placed on conditional release.

Liberian victims allege in late 1992 Martina Johnson directly participated in mutilation and killings during “Operation Octopus”, an infamous military offensive launched by the NPFL on the Liberian capital, Monrovia. The victims are represented by the Belgian lawyer Luc Walleyn.

On 14 October 2025, following more than 10 years of investigation, a judge in the Ghent Court of First Instance in Belgium sent the case to the chambre de mises en accusation for formal closure of the investigation. The parties are now awaiting a hearing before the judges of the Appeal Court and a decision on whether the case will proceed to trial.

Civitas Maxima and the Global Justice and Research Project (GJRP) in Monrovia and Liberia have worked in partnership and in direct collaboration with Luc Walleyn on this case. Since 2012, both Civitas Maxima and the GJRP have documented the accounts of victims and survivors of the two Liberian civil wars (1989-1996 and 1997-2003).