MONROVIA, Montserrado – The parents of 21-year-old Victoria Zayzay who died in police custody have threatened to stage protests if the Liberian government does not release the autopsy report on their daughter’s death before ordering a second autopsy.

Zayzay allegedly committed suicide on October 21, while in police custody at a police station in the Hotel Africa Community. She was held there after an altercation with another woman identified as Mamie Morris.

Zayzay’s parents made their comments following a statement from Liberia’s Justice Minister Benedict Sannoh that the autopsy performed on Victoria Zayzay was inconclusive.

Sannoh’s statement came after mounting pressure from the Women in Peacebuilding Network advocacy group, journalists, and the victim’s parents for the Justice Ministry to release the autopsy report.

“The Government of Liberia has received the autopsy report performed on the late Victoria Zayzay by two Ghanaian pathologists, but said report is inconclusive,” Sannoh told journalists.

The Liberian Justice Minister described the death of Victoria as an unfortunate situation, noting that the government would find out the actual cause of death.

“It is my responsibility as Justice Minister of Liberia to find out what actually happened that led to Victoria’s death,” Sannoh continued.

“The government will not relent until it brings those responsible to justice for the death of Victoria Zayzay if it is proven she did not die of suicide,” he said.

Sannoh also added that the government would conduct an internal investigation but did not say when it would begin.

“The government is in the process of performing the second autopsy on the victim to determine the cause of death,” Sannoh added.

Meanwhile, the father of the alleged suicide victim has dared the Liberian government to perform a second autopsy on his daughter in the absence of the first report. Rufus Zayzay looked visibly angry as he said he was “tired hearing rhetorics from authorities at the Ministry of Justice” about his daughter’s death.

Rufus Zayzay, father of Victoria Zayzay. Photo: Zeze Ballah

“We the parents of Victoria are issuing a seven-day ultimatum to the Liberian government to release findings into our daughter’s autopsy or else we will protest,” Zayzay said.

“This government understands the language of violence and so violence will be our next course of action after engaging the Justice Ministry authorities peacefully,” he continued. “If the government wants to see many other bodies buried with my daughter, such will happen.”

One of Zayzay’s complaints was that neither Sannoh nor anyone from the Justice Ministry provided him with a photograph showing his daughter hanging in the holding cell. He cites the lack of evidence of suicide as a clue that there is a cover-up.

Zayzay said his family is still mourning the mysterious death of Victoria during what should be a festive season. They are demanding that the government release the inconclusive autopsy report from the two Ghanaian pathologists.

“I really want to know what exactly is in the inconclusive report from the two Ghanaian pathologists that Liberian taxpayers’ money was used on,” Victoria Zayzay’s mother, Comfort Zayzay, said.

Comfort Zayzay added that if the government started performing the second autopsy report on her daughter without releasing the first report, she and other family members would move their belongings into the Justice Ministry to live there.

Earlier in October, police spokesman Sam Collins had said the victim committed suicide while in custody. According to the Director of the Liberia National Police, Chris Massaquoi, the police suspended all officers on duty at the time of Victoria Zayzay’s death.

Featured photo by Zeze Ballah