AP News, June 25th, 2007
Former Liberian President Charles Taylor boycotted his war crimes trial again Monday, drawing an accusation from a prosecutor that he was manipulating the process from his jail cell.
Because Taylor has fired his court-funded lawyer, he was not represented in court, forcing judges to adjourn the trial until July 3, when the first prosecution witness is due to testify. The court will appoint temporary defense counsel.
As he did at the trial's opening three weeks ago, Taylor stayed in his cell and complained that he lacked the funds to mount an adequate defense against charges of arming Sierra Leone rebels and orchestrating a murderous terror campaign during that country's 10-year civil war.
The war was notorious for drugged child soldiers toting automatic weapons and hacking off hands and limbs of their enemies.
Senior prosecutor Brenda Hollis suggested Taylor was trying to stall the case and urged judges to order him into court.
"The dilemma we are in today is of the accused's making," she said, calling Taylor's boycott "an effort to manipulate proceedings."
The case has echoes of the trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who defended himself against genocide charges at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal and repeatedly clashed with judges and witnesses. That trial dragged on for four years before being aborted last year when Milosevic died in his jail cell.
The U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone is funded by voluntary contributions and does not currently have enough cash to cover its $33 million budget for 2007.
The court has offered to give Taylor $50,000 a month for his defense. He has been declared indigent by court officials despite a recent U.N. report saying he stashed millions of dollars in foreign banks while ruling Liberia and may still have access to funds in Nigeria.
Presiding judge Julia Sebutinde said the integrity of the trial was at stake and enough money had to be provided "if this court is expected to conduct a fair and expeditious trial."
Prosecutor Stephen Rapp, speaking in the Sierra Leone capital Freetown, said Taylor gets more than other international tribunals give defendants.
"What's been offered to Taylor _ presuming he's indigent, which we doubt _ is very adequate," Rapp said.
Sebutinde said the trial will run from July 3-11 and then break until Aug. 20. When it resumes she said Taylor should have a team comprised of a senior attorney, two co-counsel, an experienced investigator and legal assistants.
While the judge appeared to meet most of Taylor's demands, her patience was clearly running out with his refusal to appear.
"The accused has no right not to attend," she said. However, the court has never compelled defendants to attend hearings.
Elise Keppler of Human Rights Watch criticized the court's push to start the trial, saying it could hurt Taylor's defense.
"To come back and expect a new defense team ... to be at the trial with the prosecution presenting its case next week, raises questions about adequate time to prepare," said Keppler. "Given the seriousness of the charges and the complexity of this case, what's the rush to start again next week?"
Taylor, 59, is the first African leader tried at an international war crimes court.
He has pleaded not guilty to 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for allegedly arming Sierra Leone rebels and orchestrating the terror campaign they waged during their country's civil war, which ended in 2002. His trial is being held in the Netherlands for fear it could spark more unrest if staged in Sierra Leone.
Last week the Sierra Leone court issued its first verdicts, convicting three former military leaders on multiple counts of war crimes, including the first-ever conviction by an international court for using child soldiers.
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Associated Press Heidi Vogt in Dakar, Senegal, contributed to this report.
