Former Liberian President Charles Taylor’s defence team has some reading to do before his war-crimes trial begins — 32 000 pages of documents and witness statements compiled by prosecutors.
That gives them plenty to do while officials work out where the trial will be held and where the accused warlord might be jailed if convicted.
Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and the joint Sierra Leone-United Nations tribunal want the trial held outside of West Africa because of security concerns. The Netherlands has agreed to host it, but only if Taylor leaves immediately after — convicted or not.
So far, no nation has agreed to take Taylor in, and the trial is unlikely to begin until some nation does.
Speaking in London on Wednesday, Johnson-Sirleaf said she was optimistic a European Union country would break the impasse. Her information minister, Johnny McClain, stressed on Friday that Liberia had no control over the matter.
”It is the prerogative of the court,” he told The Associated Press.
On Thursday, Sweden’s Parliament approved a law making it possible for the Scandinavian country to imprison Taylor if he is convicted — though Sweden has not yet officially decided whether it would do so and previously rejected requests to jail him. Denmark and Austria also rejected requests.
The Sierra Leone Special Court was established by the UN and Sierra Leone to try those accused of bearing the greatest responsibility for atrocities during that country’s 1991-2002 civil war. Taylor faces 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity stemming from his alleged backing of Sierra Leonean rebels who terrorised victims by chopping off their arms, legs, ears and lips.
While the charges refer only to Sierra Leone, Taylor is accused of fomenting violence in his homeland and elsewhere in West Africa.
He was transferred into the custody of the Sierra Leone court in late March from exile in Nigeria.
Prosecuting attorneys completed investigations last month and furnished Taylor’s defence team with the 32 000 pages of documents, which they have six months to review, said Peter Andersen, a spokesperson for the UN-backed war-crimes court.
”The trial definitely is not expected to start before the end of this year,” Andersen told The Associated Press this week.
Sando Johnson, who served as a member of Parliament during Taylor’s ousted regime, said he met Taylor in detention at the court complex in Sierra Leone in early May and the former warlord expressed concern about the trial.
”The former president told me all he wants is a fair and speedy trial,” said Johnson, speaking in the Liberian capital, Monrovia.
The court last week dismissed a motion filed by Taylor’s lawyer, who is pressing to keep the trial in Sierra Leone. Taylor says his witnesses and relatives will not be able to attend if the trial is moved to Europe.
Andersen said a trial in Europe would require more money, in part to cover witnesses’ travel costs, and three additional judges. The court runs off voluntary funding from UN member states.
”Money would have to be found,” Andersen said. ”This is being looked at the moment.”
Taylor launched his Liberian insurgency in 1989 and won elections that handed him the presidency in 1997. Rebels took up arms against him three years later and Taylor fled into asylum in Nigeria in 2003. — Sapa-AP