Defense Attorneys for Former Liberian President Seek His Acquittal

By Dahee Nam
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

HEAGUE, the Netherlands – Defense attorneys for former Liberian President Charles Taylor sought his acquittal Monday on all charges relating to his alleged involvement in Sierra Leone's civil war, claiming that there was no evidence to support his conviction.

Taylor, 61, has been on trial at the Hague-based Special Court for Sierra Leone since June 2007, for charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, rape, sexual slavery, and conscription of child soldiers during the 1991-2001 civil war in Sierra Leone.  On Monday, he has pleaded not guilty to all 11 counts.

"The evidence presented to date, viewed in an objective manner, is not sufficient for or capable of supporting a conviction," Morris Anyah, Taylor’s attorney told a three-judge panel during a special session to hear the defense motion.

Anyah said there is no doubt that terrible crimes occurred in Sierra Leone or that citizens in the country faced "atrocities of unimaginable proportions."

However, the prosecution has failed to show enough evidence to link Taylor to the planning, instigation, execution, or aiding of those crimes, he argued.

The prosecution is scheduled on Thursday to respond to the defense motion for judgment of acquittal. If the judges are convinced there is no sufficient evidence to support a conviction, an acquittal will be granted at the close of the prosecution case under Rule 98 of the tribunal's rules of procedure.  If the motion is denied, Taylor will stand as the first witness when his defense argument starts this summer.

For more information, please see:

AFP:Dismissal Motion in Epic Taylor War Crimes Case - 6 April 2009 

Afrol News: Lawyers Seek Taylor’s Acquittal - 6 April 2009

Reuters: Charles Taylor's Defence Counsel Seeks His Acquittal - 6 April 2009

VOA News: Former Liberian President's Lawyers Ask for Acquittal - 6 April 2009

Comments

[ADAM SMITH]

Mr. Taylor is expected to take the stand in his own defence. The former President has pleaded not guilty to the 11 counts of war crimes. My conviction is in review that Charles Taylor betrayed the confidence of Liberians.

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ADAM SMITH

attorneys