Liberia: 62 Witnesses Ready to Testify Against Taylor
December 13, 2007 Alloycious David

The Chief Prosecutor of the Special War Crime Court for Sierra Leone, Stephen Rapp, says evidence against former Liberian President Charles Taylor is strong and that he would not get off the hook.

He said 62 witnesses, including a former rebel general are willing to testify against the former Liberian dictator for crimes committed in neighboring Sierra Leone. Of this number, 20 are Liberian citizens who are willing to take the stand against Mr. Taylor.

Prosecutor Rapp pointed out that the Liberian witnesses are protective witnesses and he could not identify them because some were living abroad.

"We have a strong case against Mr. Taylor; the evidence is strong, and we have more than 60 witnesses willing to take the stand against him," the Chief Prosecutor maintained.

He said some of the witnesses are people who were on assignments in Sierra Leone for Mr. Taylor, while others operated in that country.

Mr. Rapp indicated that they have evidence to show that Mr. Taylor was in control of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which he trained and equipped with war-like materials to commit gross human rights violations against the people of Sierra Leone.

He also said prosecution has additional evidence that Taylor used the RUF to invade Guinea and other neighboring countries.

"The rebel forces gave Mr. Taylor huge quantity of diamond in exchange for services he rendered them. Mr. Taylor used some of the diamonds to purchase weapons," the Chief Prosecutor alleged.

Addressing a news conference Wednesday in Monrovia, Mr. Rapp alleged that most of the atrocities committed in Sierra Leone occurred when Mr. Taylor was President and not the time he was leading the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL).

"We are prosecuting Mr. Taylor only for crimes he committed during his regime as President we also have evidence that Mr. Taylor used the RUF to fight the Liberia United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD).

"If not guilty, Mr. Taylor will come back to Liberia, but we will win, we have the evidence," he reiterated.

The Special Court Prosecutor noted that the witnesses include victims of 'Taylor's campaign of terror' while some are from within.

He would not disclose the identity of witnesses from Liberia for security risk but was certain that Taylor's former Army General John Tarnue would likely testify against Taylor.

Rapp disclosed that some of the witnesses would testify behind wall due to security risk.

As regard issue raised by Mr. Taylor's defense team that most of his witnesses are on UN travel ban, Rapp said it has been resolved for witnesses on the ban to make a notification within four days to automatically travel to The Netherlands.

He indicated that the court would sponsor the travel of Taylor's witnesses and also underwrite the cost of their stay in The Netherlands since Taylor claimed that he is indigent.

allafrica