BATAVIA, N.Y., March 2 (UPI) -- The U.S. government is trying to deport a longtime upstate New York resident who allegedly headed a group that committed atrocities in Liberia.
An immigration judge in Batavia, N.Y., has been hearing testimony this week about George Boley Sr., The Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle reported.
Prudence Bushnell, a deputy assistant secretary of state during the Liberian civil war, testified she warned Boley that human rights violations there could keep him from returning to his home in Clarkson, N.Y. At the time, Boley headed a group called the Liberian Peace Council that U.S. officials say was actually a fighting organization.
Walter Carrington, a former ambassador to Nigeria, said Boley asked him in 1996 for 2,000 rifles.
Judge John Reid barred federal prosecutors Monday from putting on a witness who had been flown to New York from Liberia. The judge said prosecutors failed to follow his rulings on witnesses.
Boley has been in detention for more than a year. The government case is expected to wrap up this week, and the defense will put on its case at some point in the future.
