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| |  | | Charles Taylor | | | context : | Sierra Leone  | | judgement place : | Sierra Leone Special Court | | status : | On trial | | particulars : | Trial before the SCSL in The Hague began on 4 June 2007; start of Defence case on 13 July 2009 | | position : | President of Liberia |
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| | | | Under pressure exerted by the international community, Charles Taylor relinquished power and resigned as President of Liberia on 11 August 2003. He was arrested on March 29, 2006 in Nigeria and transferred the same day to the SCSL.
The SCSL indicted Charles Taylor on 7 March 2003. The indictment charged him with crimes against humanity, violations of common article 3 of the Geneva Conventions and its Second Additional Protocol, and other serious violations of international humanitarian law according to articles 2, 3 and 4 of the SCSL Statute.
According to the indictment, the RUF and AFRC shared a common plan and purpose, thus forming a joint criminal enterprise which consisted in carrying out the joint actions necessary to gain and exercise political power and control over the territory of Sierra Leone, and in particular over the diamond mining regions. The indictment accused Charles Taylor of belonging to this joint criminal enterprise.
On the basis of the acts and omissions for which he held direct responsibility and for his responsibility as a hierarchical superior, Charles Taylor was initially indicted on 17 counts as follows:
- Extermination, murder, rape, enslavement and other inhuman acts as crimes against humanity;
- Violations of common article 3 of the Geneva Conventions and of its Second Additional Protocol for: acts of terrorism, collective punishments against the civilian population, violence to life and person, outrages upon personal dignity, pillage and abductions;
- Other serious violations of international humanitarian law, namely the recruitment of children under 15 years into the armed forces.
On 23 July 2003, Charles Taylor raised opposition to this indictment and the arrest warrant issued against him stating that as a Head of State, at the time the indictment and the arrest warrant were issued, he had the right to immunity from prosecution.
On 31 May 2004, after due examination of international jurisprudence in this matter, the Appeals Chamber considered that the principle of international law establishing the sovereign equality of States does not prevent Heads of States from being prosecuted by international criminal tribunals.
It ruled therefore that Charles Taylor was subject to the jurisdiction of the SCSL and rejected his appeal.
On March 16, 2006, the Special Court gave leave to amend the indictment against Charles Taylor. Under the amended indictment, Taylor was charged with only 11 counts, so as to ensure a more focused trial.
On March 17, 2006, it was announced that the Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf had asked Nigeria to hand over Charles Taylor. The Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has always promised to transfer Taylor to face justice under the sole condition that Liberia address such a request to him.
On March 25, 2006, the Nigerian government said that Charles Taylor was soon to be transferred to Liberian custody.
On trying to escape from Nigeria as a result, Charles Taylor was arrested on March 29, 2006 on the Cameroon border and transferred the same day to the SCSL.
On April 4, 2006, he pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against him.
On June 16, 2006, the UN Security Council, under resolution 1688, authorized the transfer of Charles Taylor to The Hague, to be tried at the facilities of the International Criminal Court. The United Kingdom had previously indicated its willingness to accept Charles Taylor to serve sentence there in the case of his conviction.
On June 20, 2006, Charles Taylor was transferred to The Hague.
In September 2006, a provisional date of 2 April 2007 was set for the trial.
On 26 January 2007, it was announced that the date for start of the trial had been set back at the request of the defence in order to provide it with additional time to prepare.
The trial began on 4 June 2007 in the absence of Charles Taylor who refused to appear on the grounds that he would not be given the right to a fair trial.
After that date the resumption of the trial was postponed many times in order to settle many procedural issues.
The trial finally resumed on 7 January 2008.
The Prosecution closed its case on 27 February 2009, after calling a total of 91 witnesses.
The Defence case is set to start on 13 July 2009. | |     click for more... | | Trial Watch would like to remind its users that any person charged by national or international authorities is presumed innocent until proven guilty. | |  |  | | nationality : | | | Liberia | | | date of birth : | | | 28.01.1948 | | | last time seen : | | | The Hague (Netherlands) | | | period of charges : | | | 30.11.1996 | | | judgement period : | | | 04.06.2007 | | | charges : | | | Crimes against humanity
War crimes | | | profile last modified : | | | 19.06.2009 |
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