Taylor won't get death penalty
2006-03-30 13:55
Freetown - Ex-Liberian President Charles
Taylor faces a possible life term, but not the death penalty, if
he is convicted of war crimes by an international court in what
could be a long trial, the chief prosecutor said on Thursday.
Desmond de Silva said the former warlord could make his
first appearance by Friday before a judge of the United Nations-backed
Special Court for Sierra Leone where he was flown on Wednesday.
He will be asked to plead guilty or not guilty to the 11
counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including
mutilations and sexual slavery, with which he is charged.
He is accused of receiving diamonds in exchange for
supporting Sierra Leone rebels who often hacked off the limbs of
their victims or raped them.
The charges stem from Sierra Leone's 1991-2002 civil war,
one of a web of brutal regional conflicts in West Africa that
shocked the world with graphic images of gratuitous killings and
mutilations by drugged-up child soldiers.
Escapologist
If, as expected, Taylor pleads not guilty, the prosecution
and defence would prepare for trial. "On the basis of what has
happened with regard to other defendants, the trial is many
months away," de Silva told Reuters by telephone.
Taylor, 58, was taken into UN custody on Wednesday when
Nigeria deported him after he made a brief abortive run for
freedom from his exile home.
Exile in Nigeria, part of a 2003 peace deal for Liberia, had
kept him out of the reach of the Sierra Leone court for nearly
three years.
De Silva said Taylor would be tried under international
criminal law, which forbids the death penalty, but can mean
convicted war criminals spend the rest of their lives behind
bars.
"It depends on how long he lives ... in international
criminal courts people can be sentenced to 10, 20, 30, 40 years
or indeed for the rest of their natural lives," he said.
Reinforced guard
World leaders, including UN chief Kofi Annan and United States President George W Bush, hailed Taylor's swift delivery to the
Sierra Leone court on Wednesday as a triumph of justice.
This was a relief for Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo
who had been at a loss to explain how Taylor - described by de
Silva as "something of an escapologist" - had managed to slip
away late on Monday from his exile home in the southeastern
Nigerian town of Calabar.
Nigerian police caught up with him early on Wednesday, more
than 1 500km away, when he tried to drive over the
border into Cameroon with a trunkful of dollars.
De Silva said a contingent of Irish UN rapid reaction
troops were being brought in from Liberia to reinforce security
around the Special Court compound in Freetown where Taylor was
being held since late Wednesday in a special cell by himself.