PHILADELPHIA (Chatnewstv.com) — A former Liberian rebel general who concealed his role in extrajudicial killings and attacks during his country’s civil war was sentenced Thursday to nearly five years in prison for immigration fraud, the Justice Department said.
Laye Sekou Camara, 47, also known as “General K-1” and “Dragon Master,” received a 57-month sentence after pleading guilty to four counts of visa fraud. Prosecutors said he lied on immigration forms to obtain permanent residency in the United States in 2010, falsely claiming he had never engaged in violence, served in a rebel group, or recruited child soldiers.
“The defendant, who was a member of a Liberian rebel group, engaged in the extrajudicial killing of civilians and ordered a mortar attack which struck the U.S. Embassy compound in Monrovia,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti. “Human rights violators are not welcome in the United States, and the Criminal Division is committed to holding accountable those who attempt to conceal their crimes and live freely without consequence.”
U.S. Attorney David Metcalf for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said Camara “was a notorious LURD commander, brutal even by the standards of the Second Liberian Civil War, and he lied about his past to build a new life in the United States. Today’s sentence holds him responsible for his immigration fraud and officially ends his efforts to avoid accountability for his horrific crimes.”
At a hearing earlier this year, nine Liberian witnesses described atrocities committed under Camara’s command in the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel group. Testimony included accounts of killings, mutilations, child soldier recruitment, and a mortar attack that killed a U.S. Embassy guard and other civilians in Monrovia.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations in Philadelphia with support from the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service, and the Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center.
