Liberia's Taylor denies atrocities before tribunal

Call for representation
Principal court defender Vincent Nmehielle said he had received calls from lawyers from all over the world wanting to represent Taylor. He also said the indicted Liberian warlord had told him he wanted time to get together a top-notch team and was happy to be represented by Nmehielle at Monday’s hearing.

Nmehielle said Taylor asked his office to contact two lawyers he wanted on his defense team: Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz and British lawyer Karim Khan, who represented Taylor when he challenged the jurisdiction of the war tribunal in 2003.

Taylor had earlier asked Paul to contact lawyers in the United States and Britain, saying: “Bring two attorneys. Bring them any way you can. I need somebody to take charge of this defense immediately ... (I need) to put things into motion because we have only 30 days to answer the indictment.”

Paul included an AP reporter in Sunday’s conference call with Taylor, who spoke from his cell at the tribunal. The reporter was not allowed to ask questions for fear prison authorities would disconnect the call.

Diamond deal alleged
At the war crimes tribunal, Taylor is accused of backing Sierra Leonean rebels notorious for maiming civilians by chopping off their arms, legs, ears and lips. In return for supporting them, he allegedly got a share of Sierra Leone’s diamond wealth and used it to fund his ambitions in Liberia.

The leader of Taylor’s defense team, Francis Garlawulo, said Taylor was president when indicted in 2003 and argued the U.N.-backed court had no jurisdiction over Liberia or its head of state. The court’s appeals chamber rejected a similar argument made by a Taylor lawyer after the indictment was filed.

Garlawulo also questioned whether Taylor could receive a fair trial given intense publicity surrounding the case, saying in recent days images of Sierra Leoneans maimed by rebel fighters have dominated the world’s television screens.

Although Taylor made his first court appearance in Sierra Leone, Special Court officials have requested that an international court in The Hague, Netherlands, host the trial. Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has expressed fear that Taylor supporters could use the trial as an excuse to mount another insurgency in her country.

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