The war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor resumed at the international court in The Hague, Netherlands Monday. The trial is the first such case involving charges brought against a then-acting head of an African government. Taylor is charged with 11 counts of crimes against humanity, war crimes, conscripting child soldiers and sexual slavery Taylor allegedly backed the Revolutionary United Front rebels in Sierra Leone with “blood diamonds” in an effort to control the regions lucrative diamond trade.
Prosecutors brought in a Canadian witness, Ian Smillie, who is an expert on conflict diamonds. Smillie testified he met with Taylor as part of a U.N. investigation in 2000. He said Taylor told him it was “highly probable” that RUF-smuggled diamonds passed through Liberia, but denied any involvement in the trafficking.
Prosecutors expect to pull in over 100 witnesses such as Smillie along with scores of others who make up a generation of amputees who survived the 1991-2002 conflict in the region. The international system in this case is a joint collaboration between the International Criminal Court and the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone. Officials decided to handle high profile cases such as Taylor's at The Hague rather than at the SCSL's seat in Freetown, Sierra Leone out of judicial and security concerns.
Prosecutors said they hoped the court would reach a judgment by 2009, but note the appeals process could last into 2010. I’ve been watching some of these trials for over a year now. The Iraqi's waste no time stringing their officials up and take great glee in “leaking” executions over the internet (as the shameful shameful Saddam Hussein execution indicated.) Last time we did this at an internationally sanctioned system (note Iraq is not included in that), the lead guy, Slobodan Milosevic, died in custody. There are reports out that good ol’ Charles Taylor has himself a nice little kitchen and all sorts of perks at his “prison” cell at The Haque. And I won't even mention how much it costs to put this guy up everyday. Meanwhile, the boys at Gitmo …
Let's hope that this time, this time, the international community can conduct a fair, impartial, speedy trial for one of the worst perpetrators of mass atrocities in the modern era. With the former poster-child of African development, Kenya, descending into case, the African continent could certainly use a degree of reconciliation.
