Post by Steve Gardner on Jan 7, 2008 21:11:28 GMT
Source: The Guardian
Ian Traynor in Brussels
Monday January 7, 2008
Guardian Unlimited
The trial of the first African leader to be prosecuted for international war crimes finally got under way today when the former Liberian president Charles Taylor entered the dock at a special tribunal in The Hague after months of wrangling and boycotts.
In what is being seen as a key test for the efficacy of international justice, the prosecution launched its lengthy attempt to put the 59-year-old former warlord and head of state behind bars, probably in Britain, for alleged war crimes in Sierra Leone.
Taylor - previously convicted of embezzlement in the US - is pleading innocent to 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The court has been set up especially to deal with the atrocities perpetrated during Sierra Leone's 11-year civil war, which was ended by British military intervention, ordered by Tony Blair, in 2002.
Taylor, accused of being deeply complicit in the war in neighbouring Sierra Leone in order to profit from the wrecked country's diamonds trade, is alleged to have encouraged mass murder, the sexual enslavement of girls, mass rape, the recruitment of child armies, and the systematic amputation of limbs, all with the aim of terrorising civilian populations.
He is the first former head of state from Africa to stand trial as a war crimes suspect.
Human Rights Watch, which has long lobbied for an end to the impunity commonly enjoyed by dictators and warlords in leading political positions, described the start of the case as a huge moment.
"A former head of state is being tried for these most serious crimes," Elise Keppler, a lawyer with the pressure group's international justice programme, said.
Taylor, who was the president of Liberia for six years until 2003, was indicted in the same year and arrested while attempting to flee Nigeria in 2006.
Before winning power in Liberia, he spent 14 years engaged in vicious conflict in his own country and then, as the Liberian leader, supported the rebel army of the late Foday Sankoh in Sierra Leone.
He allegedly supplying weapons to the insurgents in return for access to the lucrative diamond mines of Sierra Leone.
Taylor is alleged to have operated in cahoots with some of the world's most notorious arms traders, such as Viktor Bout or Leonid Minin, traffickers from the former Soviet Union who enjoyed extensive links with former KGB mafias.
The prosecution launched its case today with testimony from Ian Smillie, a Canadian expert on the "blood diamonds" rackets.
However, it suffered an early setback when the panel of judges supported Taylor's defence objections that Smillie was not qualified to testify about atrocities allegedly linked to the former president.
The trial opened last June amid scenes of chaos, with Taylor boycotting the court, sacking his defence lawyer and refusing to acknowledge the tribunal's legitimacy, triggering a six-month adjournment.
As a result of his complaints, the judges doubled the funding available for his defence to £50,000 a month despite the widespread suspicion that Taylor is a multi-millionaire.
The trial is being held in The Hague because of fears it could destabilise Liberia, where the special tribunal is based.
The judges are keen to finish the case by the end of next year to avoid the kind of mishaps that have affected some of the trials at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal, also held in The Hague.
Ian Traynor in Brussels
Monday January 7, 2008
Guardian Unlimited
The trial of the first African leader to be prosecuted for international war crimes finally got under way today when the former Liberian president Charles Taylor entered the dock at a special tribunal in The Hague after months of wrangling and boycotts.
In what is being seen as a key test for the efficacy of international justice, the prosecution launched its lengthy attempt to put the 59-year-old former warlord and head of state behind bars, probably in Britain, for alleged war crimes in Sierra Leone.
Taylor - previously convicted of embezzlement in the US - is pleading innocent to 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The court has been set up especially to deal with the atrocities perpetrated during Sierra Leone's 11-year civil war, which was ended by British military intervention, ordered by Tony Blair, in 2002.
Taylor, accused of being deeply complicit in the war in neighbouring Sierra Leone in order to profit from the wrecked country's diamonds trade, is alleged to have encouraged mass murder, the sexual enslavement of girls, mass rape, the recruitment of child armies, and the systematic amputation of limbs, all with the aim of terrorising civilian populations.
He is the first former head of state from Africa to stand trial as a war crimes suspect.
Human Rights Watch, which has long lobbied for an end to the impunity commonly enjoyed by dictators and warlords in leading political positions, described the start of the case as a huge moment.
"A former head of state is being tried for these most serious crimes," Elise Keppler, a lawyer with the pressure group's international justice programme, said.
Taylor, who was the president of Liberia for six years until 2003, was indicted in the same year and arrested while attempting to flee Nigeria in 2006.
Before winning power in Liberia, he spent 14 years engaged in vicious conflict in his own country and then, as the Liberian leader, supported the rebel army of the late Foday Sankoh in Sierra Leone.
He allegedly supplying weapons to the insurgents in return for access to the lucrative diamond mines of Sierra Leone.
Taylor is alleged to have operated in cahoots with some of the world's most notorious arms traders, such as Viktor Bout or Leonid Minin, traffickers from the former Soviet Union who enjoyed extensive links with former KGB mafias.
The prosecution launched its case today with testimony from Ian Smillie, a Canadian expert on the "blood diamonds" rackets.
However, it suffered an early setback when the panel of judges supported Taylor's defence objections that Smillie was not qualified to testify about atrocities allegedly linked to the former president.
The trial opened last June amid scenes of chaos, with Taylor boycotting the court, sacking his defence lawyer and refusing to acknowledge the tribunal's legitimacy, triggering a six-month adjournment.
As a result of his complaints, the judges doubled the funding available for his defence to £50,000 a month despite the widespread suspicion that Taylor is a multi-millionaire.
The trial is being held in The Hague because of fears it could destabilise Liberia, where the special tribunal is based.
The judges are keen to finish the case by the end of next year to avoid the kind of mishaps that have affected some of the trials at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal, also held in The Hague.
