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The transcript from today's testimony is attached. The final exchange between lead Prosecution attorney Brenda Hollis and Mr. Taylor was as follows:
Hollis: Q:
And Mr Taylor, at the beginning of your testimony on 14 July 2009 your Defence counsel asked you if you were guilty of the charges on the indictment, and you said you were not guilty of all these charges not even a minute part of these charges. Mr Taylor, the tragic truth is that through your choices and
through your actions, Mr Taylor, you indeed are guilty of all the charges in this indictment against you. That's the truth of it, isn't it, Mr Taylor?
Taylor A:
I disagree. That's not the truth of it. And that's what you have to prove beyond reasonable doubt before these professional judges. I disagree.
Questions were received earlier about today's testimony concerning Mr. Taylor's claims that there was an international conspiracy against him. Mr. Taylor has said that most of the groups and people who accused him of committing crimes and of hurting the cause of peace in Sierra Leone were out to get him, and are liars.
Starting on page 28 of the transcript Ms. Hollis confronts Mr. Taylor on this, and asks if all of these groups and people who accused Mr. Taylor of crimes were indeed a part of this supposed conspiracy, including: The US and UK governments The CIA Former Sierra Leonean President Kabbah ECOMOG and ECOWAS former Nigerian Presidents Abacha and Obasanjo The UN Security Council The UN Panel of Experts on Liberia, who wrote many reports accusing Mr. Taylor of funding and ordering the rebels in Sierra Leone Former Liberian Ministers critical of Taylor The European Union The World Bank The IMF NGOs such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International who had issued reports about Mr. Taylor's destructive role in Sierra Leone and his abysmal record in Liberia The Belgian Police, who has reported on Mr. Taylor's involvement in diamond tracking with the RUF Journalists like Douglas Farrah and Mark Doyle of the BBC, who had written of Mr. Taylor's links to the RUF And the Prosecution witnesses from West Africa, from other countries, and experts witnesses, who gave evidence of Taylor's crimes in Sierra Leone
Next up in the trial is the re-direct examination of Mr. Taylor by his own lawyers. After that there are some evidence-related matters, then the next Defence witnesses will be called. |
