Former Liberian President Boycotts War Crimes Trial By MARLISE SIMONS Published: February 8, 2011
PARIS — Expectations that an important war crimes trial would conclude this week were upended on Tuesday when Charles G. Taylor, the former president of Liberia, and his defense lawyers boycotted the final stage of the proceedings, contending that the court was unfair and driven by politics. Related
First the lawyers walked out. Then Mr. Taylor, who could not leave while guards were by his side, refused to go back into court after a break.
The source of their ire was the rejection by the judges of a 600-page trial summary by Mr. Taylor’s team that, despite frequent warnings, had missed a deadline.
The walkout came at a point of maximum media attention, as the trial drew to a close and prosecutors were about to present their closing arguments. Mr. Taylor and his team had used the same strategy, staging a boycott, when prosecutors opened the trial, now more than three and a half years ago.
Since then, international judges of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, seated in The Hague, have heard testimony from 115 witnesses about the civil war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s. Many testified about horrifying crimes committed by rebels whom Mr. Taylor is accused of commanding. They spoke, too, about slave labor in captured diamond mines, episodes of cannibalism, of rape, of severed heads displayed on stakes and of captured villagers lining up, waiting to have their hands hacked off.
Mr. Taylor, who took the stand in his own defense for seven months, presented himself as a man striving for peace and his accusers as liars.
Over the course of the trial, which has now lasted more than twice as long as planned, Mr. Taylor’s lawyers have frequently insisted on getting more time and have missed deadlines set by the judges, who have tried hard to appear fair to the defense.
But in recent weeks a confrontation began to develop, as defense lawyers said they wanted extra time to prepare their closing arguments and the judges insisted that they abide by the deadline, Jan. 14. On Monday, with no sign of the summary, the judges ruled that Mr. Taylor had defied court orders and that his written summary was no longer admissible.
Tempers rose Tuesday morning as Courtenay Griffiths, Mr. Taylor’s lead defense lawyer, said he was no longer participating in the trial. The judges ordered him to sit down. Visibly angry, Judge Richard Lussick said Mr. Taylor could not make or disobey orders at will. “You are not running the court, you know,” he said.
Prosecutors, who have often accused Mr. Taylor of trying to manipulate the court, weighed in. “The accused is not attending a social event,” said Brenda Hollis, the lead prosecutor. “He may not R.S.V.P. at the last minute. He is the accused at a criminal proceeding.”
After leaving the courtroom, Mr. Griffiths told reporters that the trial was “a complete farce” and said that he was refusing to “lend legitimacy to the proceedings.”
Lawyers at the court expect that the trial, scheduled to end on Friday, is now likely to go on for an unforeseeable time.
The prosecution summarized its case, arguing that the court should hold Mr. Taylor criminally responsible for the deaths and mutilation of thousands of people, because, as Nicholas Koumjian, a prosecutor, put it, he had financed, armed, supplied and controlled rebels in Sierra Leone for “power and profit.”
Mr. Taylor’s defense is scheduled to present closing arguments on Wednesday, even without filing a written document, and both sides are scheduled to wrap up on Friday. But Mr. Griffiths has said he will stay away and file an appeal to have his documents accepted and his closing arguments rescheduled.
Mr. Griffiths said he wanted more time because he had only recently discovered two secret diplomatic cables from 2009, part of the cache revealed by WikiLeaks, in which American diplomats wrote about Mr. Taylor. He has presented them as evidence, including one cable, dated March 2009, in which the United States ambassador to Liberia is quoted as saying that “the best we can do for Liberia is to see that Charles Taylor is put away for a long time.”
The ambassador, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, wrote that “should Taylor be acquitted in The Hague or given a light sentence,” other options should be considered, like building a case against Mr. Taylor in the United States on charges that might include financial crimes, using child soldiers or even terrorism, to ensure “that Taylor cannot return to destabilize Liberia.”
Mr. Griffiths argued that the cable and a second cable discussing what he called “sensitive details” about the trial, raised doubts about the impartiality and independence of the court.
While the judges admitted the two cables into evidence, they have asserted that their impartiality was in no way compromised. They have thrown out a request by the defense to investigate the relations between the court and the United States government and to investigate which officers of the court have leaked to American diplomats information about the Taylor trial, its timing and the financing it required.
Because of the long delays, the special court, which is financed by donor countries including the United States, has faced regular budget shortages, requiring diplomats to request additional contributions to finance the court, as well as Mr. Taylor’s defense.
Prosecutors have said Mr. Taylor amassed a fortune during the war, but he has said that he cannot afford an adequate defense. The court pays more than $100,000 per month for his team of lawyers and researchers.
Mr. Griffiths has said that the defense team he leads is “one of the best resourced teams there’s ever been in an international tribunal.”
Liberia ex-leader Charles Taylor get 50 years in jail
30 May 2012 Last updated at 11:56 GMT
Judge Richard Lussick reads out the sentence in court [embedded video]
Liberia's ex-President Charles Taylor has been sentenced to 50 years in jail by a UN-backed war crimes court.
Last month Taylor was found guilty of aiding and abetting rebels in Sierra Leone during the 1991-2002 civil war.
Special Court for Sierra Leone judges said the sentence reflected his status as head of state at the time and his betrayal of public trust.
Taylor, 64, insists he is innocent and is likely to appeal against the sentence, correspondents say.
The appeal process could last up to six months, the BBC's Anna Holligan in The Hague reports.
“While Mr Taylor never set foot in Sierra Leone, his heavy footprint is there” Judge Richard Lussick
'Heinous crimes'
Taylor, wearing a suit and yellow tie, showed no emotion during the hearing.
"The accused has been found responsible for aiding and abetting some of the most heinous crimes in human history," Judge Richard Lussick said.
The crimes - which took place over five years - included cutting off the limbs of their victims and cutting open pregnant women to settle bets over the sex of their unborn children, he said.
The prosecution had wanted an 80-year prison term to reflect the severity of the crimes and the central role that Taylor had in facilitating them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Analysis
Anna Holligan BBC News, The Hague
Sentencing the 64-year-old former president to 50 years effectively means Charles Taylor will spend the rest of his life locked up in jail.
His defence team were hoping judges would take into account the fact that Taylor has a family; he is a father of 14 children and an educated man.
But the judges decided his role in aiding and abetting the RUF rebels in Sierra Leone was serious enough to warrant 50 years.
It is a sentence that human rights groups say will set a precedent and send a message out to other world leaders - that if they commit crimes against humanity they will be forced to face the consequences, regardless of how powerful they are. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But the judge said that would have been excessive - taking into account the limited scope of his involvement in planning operations in Sierra Leone.
However, Judge Lussick said in return for a constant flow of diamonds, Taylor provided arms and both logistical and moral support to the Revolutionary United Front rebels - prolonging the conflict and the suffering of the people of Sierra Leone.
"While Mr Taylor never set foot in Sierra Leone, his heavy footprint is there," the judge said.
"The lives of many more innocent civilians in Sierra Leone were lost or destroyed as a direct result of his actions," he said.
In its landmark ruling in April, the court found Taylor guilty on 11 counts, relating to atrocities that included rape and murder.
He became the first former head of state to be convicted of war crimes by an international court since the Nuremburg trials of Nazis after World War II.
This "special status" had put Taylor in a "different category of offenders for the purpose of sentencing," the judge said.
'No remorse'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Taylor timeline
• 1989: Launches rebellion in Liberia
• 1991: RUF rebellion starts in Sierra Leone
• 1997: Elected president after a 1995 peace deal
• 1999: Liberia's Lurd rebels start an insurrection to oust Mr Taylor
• June 2003: Arrest warrant issued; two months later he steps down and goes into exile to Nigeria
• March 2006: Arrested after a failed escape bid and sent to Sierra Leone
• June 2007: His trial opens - hosted in The Hague for security reasons
• April 2012: Convicted of aiding and abetting the commission of war crimes
• May 2012: Sentenced to 50 years in jail ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Taylor, who accused the prosecution of paying and threatening witnesses in his war crimes trial, had asked judges to consider his age when making their decision, saying he was "no threat to society".
But the trial chamber said that, given his social background and standing, "rehabilitation" was not likely.
The fact that he had not expressed remorse or apologised for his part in the conflict also affected the sentence, the judge said.
Earlier, his lawyers had urged the court not to support "attempts by the prosecution to provide the Sierra Leoneans with this external bogeyman upon whom can be heaped the collective guilt of a nation for its predominantly self-inflicted wounds".
Taylor's brother-in-law in Liberia, Arthur Saye, maintained the whole process had been "politically motivated".
"The sentence is outrageous. How can you give a man 50 years for only aiding and abetting?" he told the BBC.
Suzanah Vaye, whose husband was killed during the last days of Taylor's rule, was less sympathetic: "Today, I join Sierra Leoneans in saying this should be a lesson to people that God has his own way of bringing judgement to people."
The case was heard in The Hague for fear that a trial in Sierra Leone could destabilise the region.
The Dutch government only agreed if Taylor would serve any sentence in another country.
He will serve any prison term in the UK but will be held in The Hague until the results of his appeal.
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