13 July 2009
Former Liberian leader Charles Taylor is scheduled to take the witness stand this week to testify in his own defence at his trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity arising from the civil war in Sierra Leone.
The Special Court for Sierra Leone has announced that Taylor's defence lawyer, Courtenay Griffiths QC, is expected to deliver his opening statement on Monday. Taylor is not expected to give evidence before Tuesday.
Taylor is being tried in The Hague, in the Netherlands, as a result of concerns about regional security if he is tried in Sierra Leone.
He faces 11 charges including murder, rape, sexual violence, using child soldiers, enslavement, looting and terrorizing and imposing collective punishments on civilians.
Human Rights Watch reports that the charges relate primarily to Taylor's alleged role as a major backer of the Sierra Leone rebel group, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), and his alleged association with a second warring faction, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC).
The civil war in Sierra Leone lasted 11 years, ending in 2002. Taylor was Liberian president from 1997 until 2003.
His evidence is expected to last for some weeks, says Human Rights Watch. He initially boycotted his trial.
Prosecutors presented evidence from 91 witnesses in January and February this year. In May the trial chamber handling the case dismissed an application from the defence to dismiss the charges, forcing Taylor to answer them.
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Lets be fair. Mr. Taylor did not commit the so called crime by himself. It will be fair to also charge all who helped him one way or the other including the U.S, Britain, and other African and Europeans countries who supplied the weapons he bought, knowing where it would end up. Save me the day and lets talk about something practical that can change the day to day life of our poor men and women struggling everyday to make ends meet. Ellen is guilty like Mr. Taylor and all who celebrate anyone of the theives, celebrate the destruction of Liberia.
Charles Taylor is a War criminal, he violated every recognized international law regarding human rights, including the Geneva convention. He meddled in and supported the civil war in Sierra Leone and perpetrated mayhem on his own people. . TAYLOR is getting what he deserves...exiled and injail a soon to be convicted. If anything should bring us Africans together it should be Honesty, Integrity, and rule of Law so that ALL may have Justice done unto them.
Time to rumble, indeed.
Time, high time, indeed, for Taylor to spill the beans on Tejan tiffy, tiffy, Kabba, the corrupt bureaucrat turned UN limping tail, and finally President of the soupist territory of Sierra Leone.
Time, high time, indeed, for Taylor to spill the beans on the tail of of the finance capitalist imperialist vulture, Citidenofthivieves, the barely coherent leafy Sirleaf, a political snake, if ever there was one; and it is time inded for Taylor to expose his tools in the soupist territory of Sierra Leone: from Ninja journalists---and, in this context, it is not necessary to name the most infamous of them---to the tails of the AFRC, now hiding under the criminal tents of the APC and the SLPP, sink holes of political and economic and social decay.
Taylor would probably be found guilty. The problem is that the INVADERLAND sponsored court will be exposed as a tool of INVADER 'policy' in Africa if it fails, as it assuredly will, to indict the sordid characters named in the third paragraph of this post.
And that, given the collective imperial interests of INVADERDOM in Africa, would hardly be surprising.