The special court trying the former Liberian president, Charles Taylor, will next week consider an application by defence lawyers to postpone the trial until January next year.

The Special Court for Sierra Leone announced in The Hague, in the Netherlands, that the trial would not proceed on August 20 as originally scheduled. Instead, a "status conference" would be held to determine the length of the delay.

In a motion posted on an independent website run by NGOs to monitor the trial, Taylor's new defence team asked that it be postponed until January 7 to allow "adequate time and facilities for the preparation of [Taylor's] defence, as required by Article 17 of the Statute of the Special Court of Sierra Leone."

In its response, the prosecution said it was ready to begin leading evidence, but agreed that the defence team's reason for asking for a delay was justified. However, it left the duration of the delay in the court's discretion.

Taylor is accused of committing crimes against humanity and war crimes, including mutilations, murder, sexual slavery, sexual violence, recruiting and using child soldiers, abduction and using forced labour.