George S. Boley is accused of being responsible for the slayings of civilians during Liberia’s civil wars. / File photo 2009

The federal deportation case against a Clarkson man who authorities allege committed atrocities during Liberia’s civil wars was dealt another significant setback Monday.
A visibly irate immigration judge on Monday chastened a government attorney for what the judge portrayed as the lawyer’s willful failure to adhere to court rulings in the immigration case against George S. Boley Sr. At Boley’s trial Monday, federal immigration judge John Reid disallowed testimony from a witness who had been flown in from Liberia.
Reid challenged why government attorneys sought to keep the witness’s identity confidential — an action, he said, that was a clear violation of his 2010 ruling that names would not be kept secret on prospective witness lists.
Department of Homeland Security counsel Denise Hochul said the government wanted to protect the witness, who actually had once been identified on an earlier witness list when the initial phase of Boley’s trial began in September.
The witness, Hochul said, is a businessman with a family who could have been in danger in Liberia if his identity was revealed well before his testimony.
“Mr. Boley has a family,” Reid responded.

“Mr. Boley has a life. Mr. Boley has been detained here for more than a year … where the government has refused to parole him.”
Government lawyers did not provide the witness’s name to the judge until last week, while the judge was out of town.

Federal authorities sought out a Mandingo interpreter to help with translation, if needed, but the translator was sent home Monday after Reid prohibited the testimony.
Boley was detained more than a year ago on allegations that, as a quasi-military leader during Liberia’s civil wars, he was responsible for the slayings of civilians. Immigration authorities also allege that Boley has relied on improper papers to travel to and from Liberia, his homeland.
Reid has suggested that Boley be freed with restrictions pending the end of the trial. But the judge does not have the power to release Boley without the government’s consent — and federal authorities have opposed bail for a year.
In September, Reid halted the use of video testimony from Africa after problems with the transmissions. Federal immigration lawyers then sought to have some of the witnesses brought to the United States, but their own federal immigration agency refused.
Boley’s attorney, Matthew Kolken, has said that the witnesses were prohibited entry into the U.S. because of their admissions of child-killings and other atrocities.
The trial was halted in September and resumed Monday. The government is expected to complete its case this week; two former federal ambassadors are scheduled to testify today.
Liberia was ravaged by two civil wars between 1989 and 2003 that claimed more than 200,000 lives.

A fact-finding commission formed afterward determined in 2009 that Boley should be prosecuted for crimes, but no prosecution was ever initiated in the country.
Boley, who has lived in Clarkson with his family for years while traveling to Liberia, headed a ragtag group of supposed freedom fighters called the Liberia Peace Council during the country’s strife. He once ran for Liberian president, but was trounced in the election.
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