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| Africa: Subsaharan |
| Prosecutor wants Chucky to face tribunal |
| 2005-05-05 |
| FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) -- The next chief prosecutor for Sierra Leone's U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal made a renewed call Thursday for Liberia's ousted president to be handed over for trial, calling Charles Taylor a "monster of evil." Desmond de Silva, formerly a deputy prosecutor, was appointed Thursday by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to replace lead prosecutor David Crane, who said in February he wouldn't extend his contract beyond its July termination date, the court said in a statement. De Silva, a 65-year-old Briton, took the occasion of his appointment to press a point high on prosecutors' agenda -- the handover of ex-Liberian President Taylor to the court to face charges of arming and supporting Sierra Leone's rebels. "I make a pledge to the people of Sierra Leone that I will strain every nerve and sinew to see that that monster of evil, Charles Taylor, is put in the dock," de Silva said. Nigeria offered asylum in 2003 to Taylor, the highest-profile Sierra Leone war crimes suspect, to induce him to step down as president of Liberia amid a deadly siege of his capital, Monrovia, by Liberian rebels. One term of Taylor's exile agreement is that he won't be handed to the Sierra Leone court, provided he refrain from meddling in Liberian affairs. Officials at the court say they have evidence Taylor has continued playing a role in Liberian politics and is behind a January attempt to assassinate Guinea President Lansana Conte, a longtime Taylor foe. Nigeria says it will continue to host Taylor in a villa in the remote city of Calabar in the interests of regional peace -- a move hailed by many officials in a region long tormented by Taylor. Taylor tipped Liberia into war in 1989 and is accused of playing a central role in West Africa's interconnected conflicts. De Silva's court is charged with trying those most responsible for abuses committed during Sierra Leone's 1991-2002 war, which saw various groups fighting for control of the country's rich diamond fields. During the war, fighters -- mostly rebels -- hacked off civilians' limbs, lips and ears with machetes. Leaders from each of the war's three main factions -- rebels, ruling military junta forces and government-allied militia -- have been charged with war crimes. The court differs from other war crimes tribunals by holding trials inside the country where the abuses occurred and trying defendants under a mixture of local and international law. Nine war-crimes suspects are in the court's custody for trial. Separately, a report published Thursday said war crimes prosecutors at the court should be a given a broader mandate. Prosecutors narrow interpretation of their tightly defined mandate "leaves a large impunity gap in Sierra Leone," according to a 55-page report by the University of California at Berkeley War Crimes Studies Center. But the report lauded the court for groundbreaking legal work aimed at criminalizing the recruitment of child soldiers and the practice of forced marriage -- a system of sexual slavery where fighters force females to become what's known locally as "bush wives." Court officials weren't immediately available to comment on the report. |
| Posted by:Steve |