 An international expert in the trade in blood
diamonds will be the first witness to testify at the war crimes trial of former
Liberian President Charles Taylor when it resumes Monday, six months after it
adjourned following a chaotic opening session.
Taylor, 59, is accused of terrorizing the people of Sierra Leone by
orchestrating atrocities committed by militias known for hacking off their
victims' limbs during the country's 10-year civil war that ended in 2003.
Among the 11 charges against him are murder, rape, enslavement and
conscripting child soldiers. Taylor, the first former African head of state to
appear before an international tribunal, has pleaded innocent to all charges.
Prosecutors say Taylor's desire to get his hands on diamonds from Sierra
Leone was one of the root causes of his alleged involvement in the war.
Their first witness will be Ian Smillie, an expert on conflict or blood
diamonds, so called because they were smuggled out of Africa and sold, with the
proceeds fueling wars across the continent in the 1990s and into the new
century.
Smillie
is the first of 144 prosecution witnesses, though trial attorneys expect only
half of them to appear in person. The complex case will likely last nearly two
years.
The second witnesses is slated to be a victim of the militias. Taylor's
defense team does not deny the atrocities happened in Sierra Leone and has
argued that calling victims is an unnecessary appeal to the emotions of judges.
But chief prosecutor at the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone,
Stephen Rapp, said he has an obligation to highlight the suffering of victims.
"We owe it to the victims to present some testimony in a live sense," Rapp
said, so as "not to drain the case of the human element completely."
Rapp has said he summoned 77 victims or other witnesses to establish that
crimes had occurred in each of several regions mentioned in the indictment. He
expected only 10 to appear in court.
Later in the week, a former member of Taylor's inner circle will testify
about how the former Liberian president allegedly controlled and encouraged
militias in neighboring Sierra Leone. Nearly 60 witnesses will be called to draw
links between Taylor and the militias and most are expected to do so anonymously
for fear of reprisals by Taylor supporters.
The trial is being held in The Hague for fear that staging it in the Sierra
Leone capital, Freetown, could spark fresh unrest there. However, the courtroom
action is being beamed to Freetown and members of the public have been invited
to watch at the court's headquarters.
"We will try in this early phase to lay out in broad strokes the basis of our
case, and also the human element," Rapp said.
Monday's resumption comes six months after Taylor boycotted the start of his
trial, claiming he would not be given a fair hearing, and fired his attorney. He
has since appointed a new team led by experienced British lawyer Courtenay
Griffiths.
Taylor, who has claimed he has no money, was being given about US$100,000
(€68,000) a month for his defense, Rapp said, but the tribunal might recover
those funds if what he described as Taylor's hidden assets can be found. The
court's total budget last year was US$36 million (€24 million).
Blood
diamond' expert to be first witness in Charles Taylor war crimes trial -
International Herald Tribune
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