Rights groups in Sierra Leone said on Tuesday they feared former Liberian president and warlord Charles Taylor, on trial for crimes against humanity, could undermine — or even escape — international justice.
Taylor pleaded not guilty on Monday during his first appearance at a United Nations-backed court to charges including murder, mutilation, sexual slavery and use of child soldiers during a decade of atrocities in Sierra Leone.
But what is concerning some associations and victims’ groups is whether he will be tried, as he wants, in the country that bore the brunt of a civil war he is accused of sponsoring.
The Special Court, with the backing of the United States and Liberian governments, has asked to relocate the trial to The Hague, in the Netherlands, fearing it could otherwise destabilise the fragile peace in West Africa.
Rights groups fear Taylor — who had originally campaigned for a trial in Europe — has an ulterior motive for now wanting it in Sierra Leone.
”He is a sly character, I believe he is not sincere in any way,” said Festus Minah, head of the 150-strong Civil Society Movement of Sierra Leone.
”I know he wants to get an opportunity to maintain contact with his groups in Liberia and Sierra Leone,” Minah told Agence France-Presse.
Charles Caulker, of the Forum of Conscience, said a trial in Sierra Leone would have huge security implications. ”He is a wealthy man, don’t mind him claiming he is broke and that he can’t afford legal fees. He was aware the court was looking for him and he had enough time to put in place a fallback option.”
Taylor was hauled to Freetown last week after being caught trying to flee from his sanctuary in Nigeria, and has a previous record of escaping from a US jail.
Minah said people were ”apprehensive about his ability to stage another escape. He has too many networks”.
Like other suspects here, Taylor is expected to enjoy all rights including visitors, and an official said the Special Court did not monitor conversations between detainees and their visitors.
Corine Dufka, of the Dakar-based regional office of the rights group Human Rights Watch, said there may be a plan to swing him out of the tightly guarded complex where he is detained.
”It is possible there is an attack against the court,” said Dufka.
A Western diplomat in Freetown said Taylor wanted to maintain his presence close to Liberia where he represented ”a real political threat”.
In contrast, some civic organisations and victims pushing for a trial in Sierra Leone say Taylor’s change of heart is typical. ”That’s not a surprise to some of us. Charles Taylor is like a chameleon, he will keep changing,” said Charles Mambu of the Coalition of Civil Society and Human Rights.
He dismissed the security fears, saying Taylor’s ”backbone has been broken” by the political upheavals in West Africa.
”Even if he is freed today, Taylor will not be able to do anything, there is totally no possibility,” said Mambu. ”All he is doing now is like a dying horse.”
Caulker compared Taylor’s dismissal of the court’s jurisdiction to try him as typical of the flamboyant ex-leader. ”It was like watching another Saddam Hussein,” he added. — Sapa-AFP