Charles Taylor Trial Opens with Adjournment as Taylor Dismisses Counsel

                On June 4, 2007, the war crimes trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor got off to a dramatic start as Karim Khan, Taylor’s defense counsel, read a letter from Taylor announcing that he was boycotting the opening of the trial and firing Khan.  Taylor also claimed that he lacked sufficient funds to hire new counsel.⁴  In the letter, Taylor said he refused to serve as “a fig leaf of legitimacy” for the court, asserting that a lack of resources meant he only had one attorney compared with a nine-person prosecution team and could not receive a fair trial.