Former Liberian warlord Prince Johnson, a prominent figure in the country’s brutal 1989-2003 civil wars, has died at the age of 72, officials from his party and the Senate confirmed.
Johnson, who gained infamy in 1990 when he was filmed drinking beer while his fighters tortured and killed then-president Samuel Doe, later became a powerful and influential senator.
“Senator Johnson was the longest-serving senator,” said Siaffa Jallah, deputy director of press at the Senate. Wilfred Bangura, a senior member of Johnson’s Movement for Democracy and Reconstruction party, confirmed the news, stating that the former senator passed away at the Hope for Women health center.
Johnson’s involvement in Doe’s death marked a bloody beginning to the civil wars, which ultimately claimed the lives of around 250,000 people and devastated Liberia’s economy. A native of Nimba County in northern Liberia, Johnson later became an evangelical preacher, earning significant support within the country.
He was also a vocal opponent of the establishment of a tribunal to try those responsible for war crimes committed during the conflict.
