Charles Taylor’s defense lawyers have made a request for judges to allow the former Liberian president to reopen his defense, almost one year after arguments in the case were concluded. The motion, filed on January 31, 2012, requests that the defense be allowed to “re-open its case in order to seek admission of Panel of Experts [...]
March
2
2011
New Surprises Bedevil the Charles Taylor Trial
Another week, another twist at the Charles Taylor trial. Just ten days ago, the proceedings hit an unexpected impasse when Taylor’s lead defense counsel, Courtenay Griffiths, learned that his final brief—which had been delivered late—would not be accepted by the court. Griffiths declared that, absent the final brief, he did not see any further role [...]
February
24
2011
Charles Taylor’s Lawyer Now Needs a Lawyer Himself
For more than three years, the charismatic defense lawyer Courtenay Griffiths has stood in front of international judges, arguing that former Liberian president Charles Taylor is not responsible for the horrific rapes, murders, and mutilations committed during Sierra Leone’s 11 years civil conflict. This week, Griffiths will walk back into the same courtroom, this time, [...]
February
16
2011
Déjà Vu at the Charles Taylor Trial
In an unexpected moment of symmetry last week, on Tuesday, February 8, the defense lawyer for former Liberian president Charles Taylor walked out of court. At a break, Taylor himself left the courtroom and did not return. The gesture of dramatic defiance from the defense, the prosecution left to speak before an empty defendant’s box—you [...]
February
7
2011
Lawyers Get Their Final Say at the Charles Taylor Trial
In tailored suits and with gold cufflinks matching his gold-rimmed glasses, Charles Taylor has spent much of the past three years sitting largely impassively in a courtroom in The Hague, occasionally writing notes to his lawyers, and listening as witnesses described tales of horror to a panel of judges. Prosecutors say the former Liberian president [...]
January
27
2011
With Anticipation, Sierra Leoneans Look Forward to Final Judgment in the Charles Taylor Trial
Mabinty Kargbo was just 15 years old when Sierra Leonean rebels cut off her hands and killed her parents in front of her during the country’s horrific 11 year war. Now, she waits anxiously to hear whether the former Liberian President, Charles Taylor, was behind the rebel crimes as his trial draws to a close [...]
January
19
2011
Judgment in the Charles Taylor Trial: Final Chance to Determine Responsibility for the January 1999 Attack on Freetown
When Special Court for Sierra Leone Judges (SCSL) in The Hague delivers their final judgment in the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor sometime this year, it could be the final chance to determine responsibility for the January 1999 rebel attack on Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown. Taylor is on trial for allegedly supporting Revolutionary [...]
August
10
2010
Charles Taylor: The View from Sierra Leone
As the glamor and intrigue continue today in the trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor—with a Hollywood actress and a supermodel’s former agent testifying in The Hague about diamonds and a diva—the view from Sierra Leone looks decidedly less chic. Charred buildings lined the street going east out of Freetown, the country’s capital, with [...]
Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on Thursday July 15 2010 issued a decision affirming the conviction of Charles Taylor Jr., aka Chuckie Taylor, who was convicted in October 2008 by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida and sentenced to 97 years imprisonment for [...]
April
23
2010
Charles Taylor story on TV in US (with Naomi Campbell….)
Dear Readers, I’m sure some of you saw the Nightline story last night which focussed on the allegations that Mr. Taylor’s men gave supermodel Naomi Campbell a rough cut blood diamond after a dinner hosted by former South African president, Nelson Mandela, in 1997. It was basically much of the same territory as we saw [...]
