Rights group joins prosecutor to urge more funding for Charles Taylor trial

By: ARTHUR MAX - Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The war crimes tribunal trying former Liberian
President Charles Taylor for allegedly orchestrating atrocities in West
Africa's upheavals needs more money to complete its cases, Human Rights
Watch said Thursday.

The New York-based group made the appeal for more funding from donor
countries after Stephen Rapp, the chief prosecutor in the Taylor case,
warned that the former African leader will go free if the Special Court for
Sierra Leone exhausts its funding.

The tribunal has made clear "if they run out of resources and can't continue
the trial, the judges will simply have to release the accused persons," Rapp
told reporters Wednesday.

No matter how good his case, he said, "if we run out of money, I lose."

Taylor, 59, is facing 11 charges of terrorism, murder, rape, sexual slavery,
mutilation and recruiting child soldiers. He has pleaded innocent to all
counts.

The trial starts Monday in The Hague, where it possible attempt to break him
out of prison. It is expected to last 18 months.

Human Rights Watch, which closely monitored the 11-year conflict in Sierra
Leone, said the Taylor trial sends "a strong signal that no one is above the
law." He is the first former African head of state to stand before an
international criminal court.

"The trial of a former president associated with human rights abuses across
West Africa represents a break from the past," said Elise Keppler, counsel
with the independent group's International Justice Program. "Taylor's trial
puts would-be perpetrators on notice."

The Special Court has the backing of the U.N. Security Council, but unlike
the war crimes tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda it is not financed by the
United Nations and must raise operating funds from U.N. member countries.

The United States is the biggest donor, followed by the Netherlands, Britain
and Canada, Rapp said.

He said the court needs $36 million this year for the Taylor trial and for
three other cases involving eight defendants being conducted in Freetown,
Sierra Leone.

The Special Court, which is renting courtroom space and other facilities
from the International Criminal Court, pays the ICC $750 a day for the two
prison cells Taylor occupies in the ICC prison in a Hague suburb, Rapp said.
Witnesses must be flown from Sierra Leone, and some former insiders
testifying against Taylor will be put in a witness protection program and
relocated.

"The Special Court has faced constant financial shortfalls and still needs
funding to cover anticipated costs associated with Taylor's trial," Human
Rights Watch said.

Despite the cash crunch, independence from the U.N. gives the Sierra Leone
court more flexibility in hiring staff and making decisions without going
through the cumbersome U.N. bureaucracy, Rapp said. "We can do things much
faster."

Taylor, a former warlord who became Liberia's president in 1997, was
indicted in 2003, accused of sponsoring Sierra Leone's rebel Revolutionary
United Front in exchange for illegally mined diamonds. Taylor agreed to give
up power and go into exile, but was arrested in Nigeria in March 2006 and
moved to the Netherlands three months later to await trial.

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html

To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤