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Liberia's Taylor delivered to war crimes court:Posted By: Mark Smith By Victoria Averill and Christo Johnson FREETOWN (Reuters) - Former Liberian President Charles Taylor was delivered for trial at a U.N.-backed war crimes court in Sierra Leone on Wednesday hours after Nigeria caught him trying to flee and deported him.U.N. officials whisked the former warlord by helicopter from Liberia to the court's fortified compound in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown, ending nearly three years of exile in Nigeria that had kept him out of the international tribunal's reach. Employees in the Freetown compound cheered as Taylor, 58, was taken handcuffed from the helicopter, helped into a bullet-proof jacket and put into a cell block protected by a dozen blue-helmeted Mongolian U.N. guards. Sierra Leone's Assistant Inspector-General of Police then read him the formal indictment, court officials said. Taylor now faces 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity stemming from Sierra Leone's 1991-2002 civil war, a conflict intertwined with neighboring Liberia's own civil war that Taylor started in 1989. The number of charges was recently reduced from the 17 counts contained in an original 2003 indictment, to allow for a more focused prosecution, court officials said. "It is time for Charles Taylor to have his day in court," Kanji Daramy, spokesman for Sierra Leone President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, told reporters in the court compound, which is surrounded by a barbed wire-topped wall and guarded by U.N. troops manning watchtowers. "People like Charles Taylor who have committed crimes against this country must face justice before the Special Court," he said. Taylor, seen as the mastermind of a web of interlinked regional wars that killed as many as 300,000, is accused of receiving diamonds in exchange for supporting Sierra Leone rebels who often hacked off the limbs of their victims. His capture eased Nigeria's embarrassment over his mysterious escape on Monday from a villa in the southeastern town of Calabar where he had spent two-and-a-half years in exile as part of a 2003 deal to end the civil war in Liberia. "I think today is a triumph for international justice ... He will face his day in court," Liberian Solicitor-General Tiawon Gongloe told Reuters at Monrovia's airport, where Taylor was delivered by a Nigerian presidential jet into U.N. custody. SEIZED AT DAWN Taylor was seized at dawn at Nigeria's border with Cameroon more than 1,500 km (930 miles) from Calabar, traveling in a jeep with diplomatic plates with a woman and boy, and a large amount of money in dollars in a trunk, local officials said. The former warlord's unexplained brief disappearance had initially drawn sharp international criticism as Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo began a visit to the United States. Nigeria and Liberia have been at odds over how to handle the case since Liberia's newly elected president asked for him to be handed over in early March. But Obasanjo said in Washington on Wednesday after meetingPresident George W. Bush he felt vindicated by the capture. U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said of Taylor's capture: "He will face justice for the crimes that he has committed ... for the chaos and unmentionable pain he has caused in the region." Human rights groups said Taylor's speedy transfer to face justice would send out a strong message on the world's poorest continent, where thousands have endured death and suffering at the hands of dictators, tyrants and warlords. "Today, Liberia and Sierra Leone are safer and more hopeful places. Today West Africa has moved one step closer to dismantling the devastating grip of impunity," said Corinne Dufka, head of the West Africa office of Human Rights Watch. Sierra Leone's Special Court was set up with U.N. backing to try those accused of war atrocities in the country. Sale of works on metodychkam Institutes of higher: research papers. Chief Prosecutor Desmond de Silva said earlier the start of Taylor's trial would likely be delayed for several months as his defense would seek time to prepare their case. (Additional reporting by Estelle Shirbon and Felix Onuah in Abuja, Tom Ashby in Lagos) Courtesy Of: Yahoo! News The information reported above is property of Yahoo! inc. and reprinted or modified with legitimate permission. We thank Yahoo! inc. for the kind cooperation with us and other shareholders. |
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