The War Crimes Trial Chamber of the Belgrade High Court revoked the detention of five members of the so-called Gnjilane Group of the KLA. Spokeperson of the court Dušica Ristić confirmed this for Tanjug on Monday.
Posts Tagged ‘war crimes trial’
Naomi Campbell was flirting with Charles Taylor, reveals former agent
August 10th, 2010 |
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Naomi Campbell’s former agent has claimed that the model and Charles Taylor were “mildly flirting” on the evening before the Liberian leader was alleged to have given the supermodel “blood diamondsâ€. Carole White said Taylor, promised during the dinner at Nelson Mandela”s residence in 1997 that he would present the gift to Naomi Campbell, who [...]
Naomi Campbell to testify at Charles Taylorâ€â€s war crimes trial
July 10th, 2010 |
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Naomi Campbell will be attending Charles Taylor””s war crimes trial to give evidence about “blood diamond,†which she allegedly received from Liberia””s former president. “Naomi Campbell has confirmed she will attend the Charles Taylor trial at The Hague as per the court””s request. She is a witness who has been asked to help clarify events [...]
Naomi Campbell wanted as war crimes witness
July 2nd, 2010 |
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Naomi Campbell has been ordered to testify at the war crimes trial of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor.
Prosecutors say the supermodel was given a so-called “blood diamond†from Taylor after a gala dinner in South Africa. She has previously refused to comment on the allegations or give testimony.
Naomi Campbell ‘to be summoned in Charles Taylorâ€s war crimes trial’
July 1st, 2010 |
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British model Naomi Campbell is to be summoned for giving evidence in Charles Taylor”s war crimes trial, it has emerged. The 40-year-old model will be called after the court said reports she received a ”blood diamond” from Charles Taylor, the ex-President of Liberia, could be crucial evidence. Prosecutors said that Campbell’s testimony might directly disprove [...]
Karadžić to make court appearance
November 2nd, 2009 |
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Radovan Karadžić will not appear before the Hague Tribunal on Monday, but will attend the status conference on Tuesday, according to his defense team. The former Bosnian Serb political leader’s war crimes trial continued with the prosecution’s opening statements, while there will be discussions on Tuesday regarding procedural questions and the possibility of continuing the process.
Lovas war crimes trial continues
October 19th, 2009 |
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Witness in the Lovas war crimes trial, Franjo Žadanj, said that most of the victims that died on the minefield were killed by gun shots. He told the Belgrade District Court War Crimes Chamber on Monday that a smaller number of Croatian civilians in Lovas died from the mine explosions and that “most were killed in a short time in several turns”.
Charles Taylor denies cannibalism
July 27th, 2009 |
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Former Liberian leader Charles Taylor has denied eating human flesh or ordering militias to eat their enemies.
Speaking at his war crimes trial in The Hague, Mr Taylor was quoted as saying accusations of cannibalism levelled against him were "total nonsense".
Some of Mr Taylor’s former fighters have previously told the court that he had ordered them to eat their enemies.
Mr Taylor has denied 11 charges related to the civil war in Sierra Leone, Liberia’s neighbour.
At the start of the third week of his trial, Mr Taylor also said impassable roads would have made it impossible for him to trade weapons for Sierra Leone’s diamonds, as the prosecution alleges.
On trial at the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, Mr Taylor is accused of having armed and directed rebel groups from Liberia in order to seize control of Sierra Leone’s diamond riches.
The 61-year-old denies charges including terrorism, murder, rape and torture.
He is the first African leader to be tried by an international court.
‘Never happened’
Responding to the allegations of cannibalism, Mr Taylor was quoted by AFP news agency as saying: "It is sickening. You must be sick to believe it."
CHARLES TAYLOR CHARGES- Violation of humanitarian law: Conscripting child soldiers
- Crimes against humanity: Terrorising civilians, murder, rape, sexual slavery, enslavement
- War crimes: "Violence to life", cruel treatment (including hacking off limbs), pillage
"It makes you feel like throwing up."
The former Liberian leader said there were cannibals in parts of his country, but he was not among them.
One witness had told the court he had eaten human flesh with Mr Taylor at a meeting of a secret society, Poro, AFP reports.
"It never happened," the former president responded. "I never ordered any combatant to eat anyone."
Denying accusations that he had traded diamonds for arms, he said neither of the two roads leading to the border between Liberia and Sierra Leone could support vehicles laden with weapons.
One of Mr Taylor’s former bodyguards testified last year that he had escorted such vehicles, and the court was shown a photo with a lorry allegedly pictured near the border.
Mr Taylor said on Monday that the accusation was a "lie", also dismissing allegations that he accepted diamonds from rebels in Sierra Leone.
An estimated 500,000 people were killed, mutilated or suffered other atrocities in the civil war in Sierra Leone, which lasted from 1991 until 2002.
A verdict in Mr Taylor’s trial, which was moved from Sierra Leone to the Netherlands because of security concerns, is expected next year.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Charles Taylor denies cannibalism
July 27th, 2009 |
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Former Liberian leader Charles Taylor has denied eating human flesh or ordering militias to eat their enemies.
Speaking at his war crimes trial in The Hague, Mr Taylor was quoted as saying accusations of cannibalism levelled against him were "total nonsense".
Some of Mr Taylor’s former fighters have previously told the court that he had ordered them to eat their enemies.
Mr Taylor has denied 11 charges related to the civil war in Sierra Leone, Liberia’s neighbour.
At the start of the third week of his trial, Mr Taylor also said impassable roads would have made it impossible for him to trade weapons for Sierra Leone’s diamonds, as the prosecution alleges.
On trial at the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, Mr Taylor is accused of having armed and directed rebel groups from Liberia in order to seize control of Sierra Leone’s diamond riches.
The 61-year-old denies charges including terrorism, murder, rape and torture.
He is the first African leader to be tried by an international court.
‘Never happened’
Responding to the allegations of cannibalism, Mr Taylor was quoted by AFP news agency as saying: "It is sickening. You must be sick to believe it."
CHARLES TAYLOR CHARGES- Violation of humanitarian law: Conscripting child soldiers
- Crimes against humanity: Terrorising civilians, murder, rape, sexual slavery, enslavement
- War crimes: "Violence to life", cruel treatment (including hacking off limbs), pillage
"It makes you feel like throwing up."
The former Liberian leader said there were cannibals in parts of his country, but he was not among them.
One witness had told the court he had eaten human flesh with Mr Taylor at a meeting of a secret society, Poro, AFP reports.
"It never happened," the former president responded. "I never ordered any combatant to eat anyone."
Denying accusations that he had traded diamonds for arms, he said neither of the two roads leading to the border between Liberia and Sierra Leone could support vehicles laden with weapons.
One of Mr Taylor’s former bodyguards testified last year that he had escorted such vehicles, and the court was shown a photo with a lorry allegedly pictured near the border.
Mr Taylor said on Monday that the accusation was a "lie", also dismissing allegations that he accepted diamonds from rebels in Sierra Leone.
An estimated 500,000 people were killed, mutilated or suffered other atrocities in the civil war in Sierra Leone, which lasted from 1991 until 2002.
A verdict in Mr Taylor’s trial, which was moved from Sierra Leone to the Netherlands because of security concerns, is expected next year.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Hague president to meet with judiciary top brass
July 17th, 2009 |
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Hague Tribunal President Patrick Robinson will meet on Friday with senior Serbian judiciary officials. He will be meeting with Belgrade District Court President Siniša Važić and judges from the war crimes trial chamber.
Taylor labels Hague case ‘lies’
July 14th, 2009 |
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Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, is to take to the stand for the first time at his war crimes trial in The Hague.
He denies 11 charges at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, including terrorism, murder, rape and torture.
He is expected to argue that he could not have micro-managed a rebel operation in Sierra Leone, while also running affairs of state in Liberia.
Mr Taylor is the first African leader to be tried by an international court.
His testimony is expected to last several weeks.
Claire Carlton-Hanciles, of the court’s defence office, told the BBC on Monday that Mr Taylor was ready to defend himself and had been prepared for the past six weeks by defence lawyers.
The defence for Mr Taylor, 61, began on Monday. His lawyer Courtenay Griffiths told the court that Mr Taylor had tried to broker peace in Sierra Leone.
TAYLOR TIMELINE- 1989 Launches rebellion in Liberia
- 1991 RUF rebellion starts in Sierra Leone
- 1995 Peace deal signed
- 1997 Elected president
- 1999 Liberia’s Lurd rebels start insurrection to oust Taylor
- June 2003 Arrest warrant issued
- August 2003 Steps down, goes into exile in Nigeria
- March 2006 Arrested, sent to Sierra Leone
- June 2007 Trial opens in The Hague
"We do not take issue with the fact that terrible atrocities occurred in Sierra Leone," he said.
"This case should not be about what happened in Sierra Leone, but who bears the greatest responsibility, bearing in mind that Charles Taylor tried to achieve peace."
Mr Griffiths added that the prosecution’s case was based on unsubstantiated rumour and hearsay, and that Mr Taylor now wanted to put the record straight.
Mr Taylor has sat in the courtroom, housed in the International Criminal Court building in The Hague, for months, occasionally passing notes to his counsel and holding whispered conversations with him.
In May, judges rejected a request by Mr Taylor’s defence team to acquit him because of a lack of evidence.
The prosecution says Mr Taylor planned atrocities committed by Revolutionary United Front rebels during Sierra Leone’s civil war, which ended in 2002.
The RUF was notorious for using machetes to hack the limbs off civilians. Some of the prosecution’s 91 witnesses gesticulated in court with amputated limbs – their hands had been chopped off by rebel soldiers.
Mr Taylor is accused of passing guns to the RUF in exchange for diamonds from Sierra Leone.
But his defence claims that Mr Taylor did not command RUF rebels in Sierra Leone, sell them weapons in exchange for blood diamonds or recruit child soldiers.
Mr Taylor started a civil war in Liberia 1989, before being elected president there in 1997.
After a period of exile in Nigeria, he was eventually extradited from Liberia in 2006.
The trial, being held by the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, was moved to the Netherlands from Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, amid fears it could create instability in the country and neighbouring Liberia.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Charles Taylor claims ‘love for humanity’
July 14th, 2009 |
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Former Liberian leader faces 11 counts, including murder, sexual slavery and using child soldiers in backing Sierra Leone rebels
The former Liberian president Charles Taylor began his defence at his war crimes trial in the Hague today by professing his “love for humanity” and said the charges against him were based on lies and misinformation.
Taylor faces 11 counts before the special court for Sierra Leone, including murder, sexual slavery and the use of child soldiers. Prosecutors have accused Taylor of arming and instructing rebels during the 1991-2002 civil war in Sierra Leone in order to gain control of its rich diamond fields.
In court, Taylor confidently introduced himself to the three judges as the 21st president of Liberia. His defence lawyer, the British QC Courtenay Griffiths, asked Taylor what he thought of an indictment that accused him of being “everything from a terrorist to a rapist”.
“It is quite incredible that such descriptions of me would come about,” Taylor said. “It is very, very, very unfortunate that the prosecution – because of disinformation, misinformation, lies, rumours – would associate me with such titles or descriptions.”
Yesterday Griffiths told the court that Taylor, 61, had been a “broker of peace” in the region rather than a war criminal and would testify about his efforts to restore calm in Sierra Leone.
The description was sharply at odds with the evidence offered by the prosecution since January 2008. The 91 witnesses called included a man whose hands were hacked off by rebels during the war and a former aide of Taylor who said he saw him eat a human liver.
Taylor, who is expected to give several weeks of testimony, insisted he had done no wrong.
“I am a father of 14 children, grandchildren, with love for humanity, have fought all my life to do what I thought was right in the interests of justice and fair play. I resent that characterisation of me. It is false, it is malicious, and I’ll stop there.”
He is the first African leader to be tried by an international court. An economics graduate who once escaped from a US prison, Taylor launched a successful rebellion in Liberia before being elected president in 1997.
He is alleged to have forged close ties to the brutal Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel movement in neighbouring Sierra Leone, which was notorious for recruiting child soldiers and hacking off the limbs of civilians during a conflict which cost tens of thousands of lives. The prosecutor, Stephen Rapp, said Taylor provided weapons and support to the rebels in return for “blood diamonds”.
Taylor denied encouraging atrocities such as forced amputations by the rebels, and said the allegation that he had been paid in diamonds placed inside food jars was a “diabolical lie”.
“Never, ever, whether it was mayonnaise or coffee or whatever jar of diamonds from the RUF,” he said.
Taylor fled to Nigeria after being indicted in 2003 for war crimes. In March 2006, when Nigeria accepted that he should face international justice, Taylor escaped from his seaside villa and was arrested trying to cross into Cameroon. He was transferred to The Hague, rather the Sierra Leone capital, Freetown, where the special court is based, due to fears that the trial might affect regional stability.
A verdict is expected next year.
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Courting defiance
July 14th, 2009 |
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By Adam Mynott
BBC News, The Hague
After years of preparing for his trial, Liberia’s former president, Charles Taylor, has stood up in court to give evidence at his war crimes trial.
This is the first time he has spoken in public since he was brought to The Hague in June 2006 to face charges of terrorism, murder, rape and torture.
For two years he has sat impassively behind his legal team in the Special Court for Sierra Leone, part of the International Criminal Court.
He has listened to a catalogue of horrific testimony supporting the prosecution charges that he masterminded and directed a campaign of terror and atrocity in Sierra Leone in the late 1990s and early this century.
On Tuesday, Charles Taylor, in a dark suit, white shirt and grey tie and wearing tinted spectacles, started by swearing an oath to tell the truth.
He then took his seat in the witness stand in front of the judges.
It is a historic moment – the first time an African head of state has been charged with crimes against humanity, charges he has strenuously denied.
The judges, court officials, barristers from the defence and prosecution teams and a packed public gallery focused on his every utterance.
‘Misinformation, disinformation’
Charles Taylor sat down and was asked to give the court his name: Charles Ghankay Taylor, the 21st President of Liberia, and he was asked by the chief defence counsel, Courtenay Griffiths, how he responded to prosecution claims contained in 11 counts which allege that "you are everything from a terrorist to a rapist".
Charles Taylor paused for several moments, then said: "It is quite incredible that such descriptions of me should come about… and unfortunate that the prosecution because of misinformation, disinformation, lies, rumours, would associate me with such descriptions.
"I am none of those, have never been and will never be, whether they think so or not."
This is the start of what will be a lengthy period of testimony by Mr Taylor, anticipated to last several weeks.
Initially he will be led through his defence by his legal team.
Mr Griffiths asked him about what he described as the "signature" of the Sierra Leone conflict – amputations.
Charles Taylor said it was impossible for that to have ever been ordered by him.
He said there had been no evidence from any of the witnesses brought to court to show that such atrocities had been carried out in Liberia.
"I would have never ever accepted that in Liberia and we would have never encouraged that in Sierra Leone," he said.
Mr Taylor was also asked whether he had supplied weapons to the rebel movement, the RUF in Sierra Leone.
He denied that he had given the RUF military assistance except, he said, for a brief period between August 1991 and May 1992 when he said he did supply some weapons and ammunition to RUF soldiers in order to bolster security along the border between Liberia and Sierra Leone.
He said this was limited assistance and ceased completely in May 1992.
The defence has made it clear that its strategy is to show the court that it was impossible for Charles Taylor to have "micro-managed" a rebel operation in a neighbouring country while he was trying to run affairs of state in his country Liberia, which had – as Charles Taylor put it – "problems of its own".
Court delays
The former Liberian president was brought here to The Hague for trial three years ago.
The hearing started just over two years ago and at the time it was expected that the trial might last 12 months, but Charles Taylor initially refused to accept the jurisdiction of the court.
He then dismissed his legal team and the prosecution case has been very lengthy, taking testimony from more than 90 witnesses.
The defence has said it has a list of 249 witnesses they may call to give evidence.
It is very unlikely that all these witnesses will appear, but nonetheless the trial looks as though it may extend well into next year.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Charles Taylor: war crimes case built on lies
July 14th, 2009 |
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Former Liberian leader says accusations that he supported rebels in Sierra Leone war are based on lies and rumours
The former Liberian president Charles Taylor has taken the stand in his own defence at his war crimes trial and says the case against him is built on lies.
Taylor, the first African head of state to be tried by an international court, is charged with 11 counts of murder, torture, rape, sexual slavery, using child soldiers and spreading terror. Prosecutors at the United Nations-backed special court for Sierra Leone say he supported rebels in that country to help gain control of it and strip its vast mineral wealth.
He told the court the allegations against him are based on “disinformation, misinformation, lies, rumours.”
Some of the 91 witnesses called so far have claimed Taylor shipped weapons to rebels in rice sacks in contravention of an arms embargo, and in return received “blood diamonds” mined by slave labour.
Taylor, 61, has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer, Courtenay Griffiths, said the former leader would today begin what is expected to be several weeks of testimony because he wanted to set the record straight.
Griffiths said Taylor would testify about his “strenuous efforts to bring peace in Sierra Leone”.
He urged the judges to give Taylor a fair hearing, and not to be overwhelmed by the parade of misery presented by the prosecution since the trial opened 18 months ago.
One prosecution witness who took the stand had stumps where his hands had been hacked off. A woman testified that she was forced to carry a sack full of severed heads, including those of her children. One of Taylor’s former aides told judges he was with Taylor when the president ate a human liver.
“No one who has seen the procession through this courtroom of hurt human beings reliving the most grotesque trauma would have been unmoved,” Griffiths, who is from Britain, told the three-judge panel. “We are human too, even while we declare this accused man to be not guilty of the charges he faces.”
Taylor’s trial has been hailed as a ground-breaking example of making an autocrat face responsibility for the human rights violations that occurred on his watch.
Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, has refused to answer a summons by the international criminal court, which is based in The Hague, to respond to charges of crimes against humanity in Darfur. Most African leaders have supported Bashir in his defiance and refuse to arrest him.
Taylor completed an economics degree in the US and military training in Libya before rising to power as a rebel warlord in Liberia and being elected president in 1997.
He is accused of supporting the Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone in its fight to depose President Joseph Momoh and his successors. Prosecutors say Taylor trained in Libya with the front’s leader, Foday Sankoh.
About 500,000 people are estimated to have been victims of killings, systematic mutilation and other atrocities in the civil war that lasted from 1991 until 2002. Some of the worst crimes were carried out by gangs of child soldiers, who were given drugs to desensitise them.
In an emotional opening statement, Griffiths cast Taylor as a peacemaker who was too busy defending democracy in Liberia to “micromanage” atrocities committed by rebels in Sierra Leone.
Griffiths said Taylor was not behind the use of children in conflict. “Child soldiers were not a Charles Taylor invention,” he said.
The former president sat impassively in court wearing a brown double-breasted suit, brown tie and dark glasses.
Taylor is being tried in a courtroom rented from the international criminal court because of fears that trying him in Sierra Leone could spark renewed violence.
At the court’s headquarters in the Sierra Leone capital, Freetown, the public galleries of two courtrooms were packed with survivors, students, police and community leaders who watched a live satellite broadcast of the opening statement.
In Liberia, a civil rights advocate, Boakai Jalieba, said the case was being closely followed there.
“We in Liberia have to take keen interest in the trial because the wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone had too many similarities, they had some common identities; Liberians were recruited to go to Sierra Leone and Sierra Leoneans fought here,” he said.
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