 |
|
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
SIERRA LEONE: Transcript of Charles Taylor's plea on first court appearance
FREETOWN, 4 Apr 2006 (IRIN) - Former Liberian president Charles Taylor, who was arrested last week to face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his alleged role in Sierra Leone’s brutal civil war of the 1990s, appeared in court for the first time on Monday and pleaded not guilty.
The following is the transcript of the exchange between Taylor, his court-appointed counsel and the Special Court for Sierra Leone after the 11 indictments against Taylor were read out in court. The following exchange lasted some 15 minutes.
The Court: Justice Richard Lussick (of Samoa)
"Mr Taylor did you understand what has been read to you?"
"I don't know whether you heard my question but I'm simply asking whether you understand the charges brought against you in the indictment."
"Can you hear what I am saying, can you hear?
"The indictment which has just been read out did you understand the charges that have been brought against you?"
Charles Taylor
“Yes I do.”
Judge
“Now I'm going to give you the chance to answer those charges by entering a plea of either guilty or not guilty. I'll go through each of the counts one by one and perhaps if you would be good enough to tell me whether you plead guilty or not guilty. The first count is count number one - terrorizing the civilian population namely acts of terrorism - how do you plead to that Mr Taylor? Guilty or Not Guilty?
Charles Taylor
"If it pleases the court I would like to respond to all eleven counts at the end, because there are some issues which I would like to mention here about the recognition of this court, and other issues that I would not be able to call into play here at this particular time. There is the issue here regarding this court, its right to exercise jurisdiction over me, as the 21st President of the Republic of Liberia, there are other issues of how I got here, if it pleases you your honour, these are fundamental issues, so for me it’s not the matter now of entering a plea, because I do not recognize the jurisdiction of this court."
Judge
“Mr Taylor, I don't know what advice you've been given, but two things: firstly, this matter has already been thrashed out in the appeals chamber which found against you, and secondly until such time as your initial appearance is completed you do not have the right to bring any motions before this court. So what I would suggest is that you enter pleas today, and then whatever objections you might have you can bring them by a motion and that would need to be decided by the full bench of the trial chamber, so they won't be dealt with today in any event, and if you don't complete your initial appearance today under the rules of our court, you cannot bring a motion before the court. So I think you should enter pleas now and you can then, if you choose, bring your motions whatever they may be.
Charles Taylor
"Most definitely your honour I did not and could not have committed these acts against the sister republic of Sierra Leone. I think that this is an attempt to continue to divide and rule the people of Liberia and Sierra Leone and so most definitely I am not guilty."
Vincent Nmehielle, (court defender acting as counsel for accused)
"I had made an initial request in the beginning, if you could permit some of the concerns that the accused person has, which I don't think can in any way impinge upon the process of this trial this afternoon."
"I do not know if you would permit the accused person to say some of the concerns he has, which he has communicated to me he would love to express to the court.
"Your honour the accused person wants to inform the court that he fears for his life and therefore would express that to the court as a concern that he has, particularly according to him in view of the fact that Mr Foday Sankoh died in detention while at this court, and also in view of the fact that recently Mr Milosevic died in detention and therefore fears for his life and would love that necessary facilities in terms of his health and to ensure his safety be provided."
"Secondly, the accused person fears that not being in Liberia his family is not here, and has some concerns as to him needing the moral support of his family in Sierra Leone, and therefore every necessary facility in that regard to facilitate his family having access to him be provided. That is it your honour."
"Just one more minute - Sorry your honour, this would of course also be subjected to some other procedure. My Lord, the accused person wants me to bring this to the attention of the court as to his concern that he wants to be tried in Sierra Leone and nowhere else. Thank you your honour. That is the concern he has in terms of the logistics, his possible witnesses and the fact that this is a domestically based trial for him within the sub-region to facilitate his family from Liberia to come to Sierra Leone. He feels that the most appropriate venue for him if the trial must go on is in Sierra Leone. He raises that concern before the court."
"Just one more minute. Let me confer with the accused person.
I just try to emphasize the last point I made, that he needs the trial here if it is to go on, principally because his witnesses are based here, the logistics, the tendency that there may be the depravation of access by his witnesses to countries that he hears are being proposed, and they could easily be denied visas to get to that place which is being proposed, and so that way he believes that for the logistics of his case Sierra Leone would be the most appropriate venue."
[ENDS]
This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but May not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2006
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
