The Trial of Charles Taylor


by Alpha Sesay

Sierra Leone’s top rebel leader waged a war on the West African country in 1991 to free the people from the misery of the country’s politicians, a Sierra Leonean witness testifying for Charles Taylor told Special Court for Sierra Leone judges today in The Hague.
The witness, testifying in open session but with partial protective measures, [...]

by Alpha Sesay

Foreign countries interfered in Charles Taylor’s revolution in Liberia and prevented the former president from liberating his people, a witness in Mr. Taylor’s defense told Special Court for Sierra Leone judges today.
“The Liberian revolution failed because foreign hands interfered in the Liberian revolution to disturb the revolution and prevent His Excellency President Taylor from liberating the [...]

by Alpha Sesay

A witness defending Charles Taylor today said he never heard of the former Liberian president giving orders to his own rebel forces to kill, rape, loot or burn people’s houses, as alleged by prosecutors.
A protected witness, testifying under the pseudonym DCT 125 and with face and voice distortion, said if any crimes were committed under [...]

by Tracey Gurd

Dear Readers,
The Charles Taylor trial will resume again tomorrow (Tuesday) and continue through the rest of the week.  No proceedings were held today as the Special Court for Sierra Leone has to share the courtrooms at the International Criminal Court with its own ongoing trials.

by Alpha Sesay

Charles Taylor wanted power to empower the Liberian people to develop their country, a defense witness told Special Court for Sierra Leone judges today.
“Charles Taylor wanted power, control his people and to empower them with the authority to develop their country in Liberia,” the witness said today as he testified about the former president’s motivation [...]

by Alpha Sesay

Neither Charles Taylor nor his security forces supported or participated in the Sierra Leonean rebel attack on the country’s capital Freetown in 1999, the Special Court for Sierra Leone heard today as Mr. Taylor’s first defense witness ended his testimony.
Mr. Yanks’ testimony – consistent on this point with Mr. Taylor’s own testimony — stands in contrast [...]

by Alpha Sesay

Charles Taylor’s defense witness, Mr. Yanks Smythe has said that certain aspects of his  written statement were misrepresented as prosecutors today pointed out inconsistencies in his written statement to defense lawyers and his oral testimony in court.
Prosecution counsel Nicholas Koumjian today tried to point to Mr. Smythe that certain things about which he has testified in court differ from what [...]

by Alpha Sesay

A defense witness for Charles Taylor has dismissed prosecution assertions that his testimony is contradicting that of the former Liberian president, telling the court that neither him, nor Mr. Taylor, is lying to the judges.
Between July 2009 and February 2010, Mr. Taylor, who stands accused of supporting Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels, testified as [...]

by Alpha Sesay

Charles Taylor’s first defense witness said that prosecution witnesses lied when they testified that the former Liberian president recruited and used children for combat purposes in Liberia.
Yanks Smythe, whose cross-examination by prosecutors started today, has spent the week rebutting prosecution evidence against Mr. Taylor who is charged on 11-counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity [...]

by Alpha Sesay

Former Liberian president Charles Taylor did not form or contribute to any plan to commit crimes in neighboring Sierra Leone, nor did he receive any diamonds from Sierra Leonean rebel forces as alleged by prosecutors, according to Mr. Taylor’s first witness.
Yanks Smythe has spent the last four days refuting prosecution allegations that Mr. Taylor aided [...]


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