By Zach Waksman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa
THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The Special Court for Sierra Leone has scheduled the rendering of judgment for former Liberian President Charles Taylor’s trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity for April 26 at 11 A.M. Thursday’s statement came more than a year after his trial, which focused heavily on trading of “blood diamonds,” ended. It will be the last major trial to be held by the United Nations-backed Court.
Taylor, who served as President of Liberia from 1997 to 2003, is the first former African head of state to go before an international tribunal. Faces 11 charges, which include acts of slavery and the recruitment and use of child soldiers. He has denied all charges, calling them the product of a conspiracy by “some powerful countries [that] were out to get him” as early as 2002. If convicted, he could serve a life sentence. The trial began in 2007. To reach a decision, judges had to peruse more than 50,000 pages of testimony by witnesses and 1,520 exhibits in evidence.
Prosecutors attempted to say that his actions were part of a plan to take control of Sierra Leone from Liberia in order to exploit its vast resources of diamonds. To do so, Taylor allegedly provided arms to the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), one of two revolutionary groups mentioned during the trial, in exchange for illegally mined diamonds, also known as “blood diamonds.” In 1991, the RUF launched a civil war in Sierra Leone, which claimed more than 120,000 lives during its ten-years of violence. The group was painted as a “surrogate army” for Taylor, who led an ultimately successful revolution in his home country in 1990.
The trial will mark more than the conclusion of business for the Special Court, which was founded by the government of Sierra Leone and the United Nations in 2002. It will also signify that dictators acting with impunity will no longer considered acceptable. This proceeding was “of importance to Africa and to this evolving concept of international justice,” according to Courtenay Griffiths, Taylor’s defense attorney.
But just because Griffiths agrees with the trial’s importance does not mean he supports the case itself. He characterized Taylor as a target, at one point asking why former Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Al-Gaddafi was not “on the dock.” Gaddafi is dead, but the International Criminal Court has decided to investigate the late despot’s regime. This means that the Taylor trial is almost a test run for the Gaddafi investigation. The defense has also made claims that several prosecution witnesses were paid for their troubles, including one who received about $3,000 from prosecution funds.
Taylor himself remains imprisoned in The Hague, where his trial took place for security reasons. The Special Court is based in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital. According to an aide who spoke to The New Dawn, a Liberian newspaper, on the condition of anonymity, the former warlord and statesman was mourning the death of his cousin, Vivien Cooke, whom he referred to as a brother. He has converted to Judaism, and the aide characterized him as “more religious than ever.”
“Taylor told me that there is no sin bigger than the other-all sins are equal,” the aide said.
Whether that is true or not remains to be seen, but Taylor will learn his fate in approximately seven weeks. Regardless of the verdict, both sides will have an opportunity to appeal.
For more information, please see:
BBC — Charles Taylor Liberia War Crimes Verdict Set — 01 March 2012
Pretoria News — Taylor to Hear His Fate Soon — 01 March 2012
United Nations — UN-backed Court to Deliver Judgment in Charles Taylor Trial Next Month — 01 March 2012
New Dawn — Taylor Mourns in Prison — 29 February 2012
BBC — Charles Taylor: Godfather or Peacemaker — 11 March 2011
