Charles Taylor did not provide support to Sierra Leonean rebel forces in their attack on the West African country’s capital Freetown in 1999, said the former president’s first defense witness who concluded his testimony this week. Prosecutors, on the other hand, accused the witness of giving testimony which was inconsistent with his own written statement and [...]
February
27
2010
Charles Taylor’s First Witnesses Starts His Testimony, Says Prosecution Witness Lied Against The Former Liberian President
The first witness for Charles Taylor started his testimony this week, telling Special Court for Sierra Leone judges that prosecution witnesses lied against the former Liberian president.
On Monday, Yanks Smythe, a Gambiam national who was a member of Mr. Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) rebel group and who later acquired Liberian citizenship and [...]
February
6
2010
Prosecutors Conclude The Cross-Examination Of Charles Taylor
Prosecutors this week concluded the cross-examination of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, asserting before Special Court for Sierra Leone judges that the former president persecuted human rights activists and suppressed press freedom in Liberia, that he executed politicians and rebel commanders who he saw as threats to his quest for political power, that he had ulterior [...]
Former Liberian President, Charles Taylor, this week denied knowledge of threats by a Sierra Leonean rebel commander to kill fellow citizens if the group’s leader was not released from jail during the country’s brutal civil conflict. Prosecutors dismissed his denial as impossible: Mr. Taylor had to have known about the threats, not only because he was anointed [...]
The trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor got off to a slow start this week, as technical problems forced a two-day adjournment fresh on the heels of a month-long break. When court resumed on Thursday, prosecutors alleged that Mr. Taylor gave supermodel Naomi Campbell a rough-cut diamond that had been given to him by [...]
After debates over the use of “fresh evidence” threw the cross-examination of former Liberian President, Charles Taylor, into disarray in recent weeks, Special Court for Sierra Leone judges told prosecutors last Monday that they were in fact allowed to use new documents to test Mr. Taylor’s credibility. Any documents used to try to show Mr. [...]
Charles Taylor this week reiterated a familiar position that he has maintained right through his testimony as a witness in his own defense–that he was a peace mediator and that he did not help Sierra Leonean rebel commanders to plan a military take-over of Sierra Leone. The former Liberia president also told Special Court for [...]
As the cross-examination of former Liberian president Charles Taylor continued into a second week, Prosecutors this week told Special Court for Sierra Leone that the former Liberian president was “not honest” with the United Nations Panel of Experts set up to investigate his alleged dealings with Sierra Leonean rebels. Mr. Taylor also this week admitted to prosecutors that [...]
