Charles Taylor’s Show Trial Opens without Defendant

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor boycotted the opening of his war crimes trial in The Hague earlier today. Accused of backing rebels in Sierra Leone who are responsible for thousands of dead and even more maimed, Mr. Taylor decided he wouldn’t participate in the proceedings. He wrote a letter that his lawyer offered the court in which he wrote that he believed he would “not receive a fair trial at the Special Court at this time.” Once again, the unworkable nature of this sort of trial proves that Churchill was right; summary execution is preferable.

While his letter didn’t deny the legitimacy of the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, he did say it wasn’t “fit for purpose.” He added, “I cannot take part in this charade that does injustice to the people of Liberia and the people of Sierra Leone. I choose not to be a fig-leaf of legitimacy for this process . . . . I stand ready to participate in such a trial and let justice be done and for those who have suffered far more than me in Liberia and Sierra Leone” should circumstance change.

There is no doubt of his guilt, any more than there was of Hitler’s, Stalin’s, or Mao’s, or more aptly of Idi Amin’s, Bokassa’s or Mugabe’s. The charges include “Acts of terrorism, Murder, Violence to life, in particular murder, Rape, Sexual slavery and violence, Outrages upon personal dignity, Violence to life, in particular cruel treatment, Other inhumane acts, Use of child soldiers, Enslavement and Pillage.” He’s not a nice man.

The BBC explained, “Mr Taylor started Liberia’s civil war in 1989 and became one of a number of warlords competing for control in the West African country. He later emerged as Liberia's most powerful politician and won the 1997 presidential election that ended the war there. Meanwhile in 1991, one of Mr Taylor’s comrades-in-arms, Foday Sankoh, started his own rebellion in Sierra Leone. The prosecution claims Mr Taylor provided the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leader with training, money, arms and ammunition to start the rebellion and even lent him fighters to take part in the initial attack. The RUF became notorious for hacking off the hands and legs of civilians during their decade-long war. It is alleged that Mr Taylor shared a common plan with the RUF’s commanders to gain power and control over Sierra Leone, so he could gain access to its diamonds and have a government in Freetown that would support his aims. However, the rebellion in Sierra Leone collapsed. Its war crimes court indicted the rebel leaders and Mr Taylor as well. Mr Sankoh died in 2003. That year, Mr Taylor himself lost power in Liberia after rival militias rose up and forced him into exile in Nigeria. He was deported by Nigeria last year in controversial circumstances and flown to The Hague to await his trial.”

Alive he continues to represent a threat to the tranquility of the region (much as Napoleon at Elba). He has already demonstrated the potential for farce into which the trial can devolve with his boycott and refusal to participate in his own defense. Political crimes against mankind cannot be punished through judicial means without undermining the very legitimacy of criminal justice.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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