This site provides daily courtroom updates from the trial of former Liberian president, Charles Taylor. Taylor is being tried by the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), a hybrid (or mixed) court of international and Sierra Leonean judges and staff, which normally sits in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The Taylor trial, however, was moved out of West Africa for security reasons, and is taking place half a world away in The Hague in The Netherlands—thousands of miles away from the Sierra Leonean people who actually suffered through the war and who have the most interest in seeing the Taylor trial unfold.
This site is designed firstly as a resource for journalists trying to cover the trial from West Africa, but is intended for anyone with an interest in the Taylor trial. The daily updates are provided by a Sierra Leonean lawyer, Alpha Sesay, who has been monitoring the trial since May 2008.
This site does not take a position on the guilt or innocence of Charles Taylor. Rather, the site will provide as much information about the trial—objectively presented—as possible.
