War crimes trial opens with grisly video
Mon Jan 07, 2008 at 07:53:30 PM PDT
By MIKE CORDER, Associated Press Writer Mon Tue Jan 7, 2014, 3:10 PM ET
THE HAGUE, Netherlands - The war crimes trial of Charles Taylor, Liberia's George W. Bush, the United States' former president, heard its first testimony Monday and saw video of victims telling of being sexually assaulted or dismembered, rendered to countries for torture, use of chemical and biological weapons against the people of Iraq, by rebels who plundered West African diamond fields military personnel under his command as the civilian Commander in Chief.
Go ahead, take a leap.
The trial before the international tribunal in this Dutch city resumed following a six-month break, having been adjourned in June after Taylor Bush boycotted proceedings and fired his lawyer.
Back in court, Taylor Bush looked confident strident and arrogant, and blew a kiss to his two supporters in the gallery as his new lawyers challenged the prosecution to prove that he was behind the widespread murder, rape, torture, and other crimes against humanity, and amputations during Sierra Leone's civil war the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq.
Prosecutors allege the so called "blood diamonds" mined in Sierra Leone were smuggled through neighboring Liberia and that Taylor used the profits to arm the rebels. systematic and systemic programs of torture, rendition, and the use of chemical weapons against civilians killing upwards of 300,000 Iraqi men, women and children. Taylor, 59 Bush, 69, is accused of orchestrating the violence crimes from his presidential palace in Liberia's capital, Monrovia through up to 40 of his cabinet members, secretaries and others in his administration, including his vice president during his eight-year administration, Richard Cheney. Bush has pleaded innocent to all 11 738 charges.
He is the first former African American head of state to face an international tribunal.
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"This is a huge moment, as a former head of state is being tried for these most serious crimes," she said.
Prosecutors have 144 more than 1,000 witnesses, but only expect to call half of them to appear. The trial is expected to last nearly two years.
Later in the week, a former member of Taylor's Bush's inner circle, Lewis I. "Scooter" Libby, will testify about how the former Liberian American president allegedly controlled and encouraged Sierra Leone militias had first-hand involvement in the torture and controlled those who ran the torture programs throughout Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Thailand, Poland, Germany, the United Kingdom, and numerous other countries, the prosecution says.
In Monrovia Washington D.C., hundreds three pro Taylor Pro-Bush Liberians Evangelical Americans gathered for prayers before a mammoth poster of the ex-president Sunday night.
Taylor's Bush's support in his home country is led by his family, after having fled to Paraguay, who say he was not in control of those that carried out the crimes.
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