Washington and Lee University
Former Liberian President Charles Taylor has taken the stand in his own defense to charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes. Washington and Lee University law professor Mark Drumbl, who specializes in international law, calls the case groundbreaking on several fronts.
Taylor, the first African leader to stand trial internationally for war crimes, is being tried by the Special Court for Sierra Leone. This Court, which is based in Freetown, Sierra Leone, has prosecuted leaders of the three militia groups responsible for a decade of bloodbath in the small West African country. Taylor's trial, although being conducted by the Special Court, is being held in the facilities of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. This is because it was thought to be too destabilizing for Taylor's trial to occur in West Africa. Taylor is charged with 11 counts of murder, torture, rape, sexual slavery, using children as soldiers and spreading terror during Sierra Leone’s 1991-2002 civil war. The bulk of the charges relate to his support of the RUF, the most brutal faction in the Sierra Leonean conflict.
Drumbl, who hold the Class of 1975 Alumni Chair Professorship at W&L’s School of Law and serves as Director of the University's Transnational Law Institute, noted that the trial’s location at The Hague rather than in Sierra Leone, although understandable for security reasons, also removes much of the justice process from the place where the crimes occurred and victims live.
Secondly, Drumbl said that the case is also unusual, both at the Special Court for Sierra Leone and other international tribunals, because Taylor is a former head of state. He served as president of Liberia for six years, from 1997 to 2003.
“The third reason that this case is especially interesting is that the defense that Charles Taylor has taken is, to this point, one of strict denial,” Drumbl said. “He has expressed his disbelief and incredulity that he has committed any of the acts that are alleged against him. This is somewhat different than what other high-profile defendants have undertaken elsewhere. They generally tend to attack the political impartiality of the court, arguing that it wasn’t created properly and is biased. Or they tend to do political grandstanding -- they don’t deny that they were involved on the 'dark side' but say that it was for a greater good. Or, as is the case with Radovan Karadzic at the Yugoslav Tribunal, they mount affirmative defenses -- namely, 'I lacked the intent to commit genocide or I was promised amnesty in exchange for decommissioning my forces.'”
The Taylor case is expected to last several months, although news reports this week indicated that the Special Court for Sierra Leone is in danger of running out of funds to complete the trial.
