Prince Johnson, a former Liberia leader, dies at 72 years old

Liberian former rebel Prince Johnson has died at the age of 72. He was in charge of the brutal murder of former president Samuel Doe during the country’s civil wars and later became a senator and political leader.

“Yes, he did die this morning,” a family friend told Reuters on Thursday. A family spokesman, Wilfred Bangura, also stated that Johnson had died earlier that day. Johnson had high blood pressure.

More than 200,000 people were killed, and thousands more were raped and cut up. More than a million people had to leave their homes because of the brutal civil wars that tore Liberia apart from 1989 to 2003. Johnson was involved in many of these wars.

Johnson became famous after his men caught, abused, and cut up former president Doe before putting him to death.

In a famous video from 1990, Johnson was seen drinking Budweiser and celebrating while his fighters cut off Doe’s ear with a knife and then killed him.

After the fact, Johnson said he felt bad about killing Doe and tried to make peace with her family.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Liberia said that Johnson should be charged with war crimes because his group had killed and raped people, but he was never put on trial.

He stayed in politics after the war and was chosen as a senator in 2006 in Nimba county, which was his base. He then helped decide who would be president in a number of polls.

In 2011, he backed former president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. In 2017, he backed George Weah in the runoff against Joseph Boakai, who took over as leader of Sirleaf’s party.

He did, however, move his support to Boakai in the 2023 race, which Boakai won in a run-off.