Taylor Trial Delayed Until January 7, 2008

On August 20, 2007, the Special Court for Sierra Leone granted a request for a delay of the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor until January 7, 2008. Taylor’s counsel, London lawyer Courtenay Griffiths, requested the delay to allow the newly appointed defense team to evaluate approximately 40,000 pages of evidence recently disclosed by prosecutors that allegedly document Taylor’s support of forces in neighboring Sierra Leone. Taylor is charged with arming and supporting rebels who murdered, raped, tortured, and mutilated thousands during Sierra Leone’s 10-year civil war which ended in 2002. Taylor is the first African head of state to stand trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity...[more]