5 May 2009

Amsterdam - The Special Court for Sierra Leone on Monday rejected the request by the defence team for a partial or complete acquittal of the charges of war crimes brought against former Liberian president Charles Taylor.

The defence had argued that chief prosecutor Stephen Rapp, who has completed the presentation of his case in the first phase of the trial several months ago, has insufficient evidence to lead to a conviction.

Speaking in the court in The Hague on Monday, the judges however said there was sufficient evidence.

Chief Prosecutor Rapp has witnesses who provided information about murder, rape and the cutting off of people's limbs during Sierra Leone's civil war in the late 1990s.

There are also witnesses who told how Taylor, when he was president of Liberia, planned the war crimes together with Sierra Leonean rebels.

It is common practice for international courts to render an intermediary ruling on all accounts a defendant has been charged for after the prosecution has completed presenting its case.

Any accounts the defendant would be acquitted from, the defence team would not need to refer to any further during the second phase of the trial.

Taylor's defence is due to start in several weeks' time.

In July 2007, Taylor was charged with orchestrating war crimes and crimes against humanity during Sierra Leone's 11-year civil war before the United Nations-backed SCSL.

Taylor allegedly backed the rebel forces in Sierra Leone to gain control of the country's diamond mines. In 2003, he went into exile as rebels closed in on the Liberian capital.

The Special Court for Sierra Leone, set up jointly by Sierra Leone and the United Nations, is mandated to try those who bear the greatest responsibility for serious violations of international humanitarian law and Sierra Leonean law committed in the territory of Sierra Leone since November 30, 1996.

For security reasons, the trial of the former Liberian president is taking place at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Taylor, who entered a plea of not guilty to all charges, is the first president of an African country to be charged with serious crimes under international law by an international criminal court. - Sapa-dpa