'US gangsters' upset Taylor
2008-06-24 21:02
Monrovia - The family of former Liberian strongman Charles Taylor is up in arms after Americans allegedly searched his family home this weekend, Sando Johnson, the spokesperson for Taylor's family, told AFP on Tuesday.
The men came to the house in US embassy vehicles on Sunday backed by heavily armed national police officers and took the keys from Taylor's security guards at gunpoint, said Johnson.
According to the family, the Americans brandished a search warrant from the Special Court for Sierra Leone, where the former Liberian president is currently on trial for war crimes, but the court denied any involvement.
"Prosecutor Stephen Rapp told me it was not done by the special court or at the request of the special court," court spokesperson Peter Andersen told AFP by phone from Sierra Leone on Tuesday.
"They pushed the security man out and went in. They were there for 40 minutes while the police officers prevented us from entering to see what they were doing," Johnson told AFP.
During the search a huge crowd gathered in front of the residence, and began to boo the Americans. A lawyer for the family said the men showed him a warrant from the court.
A bunch of gangsters
The American embassy in Monrovia and the Liberian minister of justice both refused to comment on Tuesday.
Observers said the search might be linked to the US indictment of Charles Taylor's son Charles McArthur Emmanuel, also known as Chuckie Taylor, on torture charges.
Chuckie Taylor, formerly head of his father's anti-terrorism unit, is awaiting trial in the US on charges that he tortured several people in Liberia between 1999 and 2003.
Charles Taylor's party, the former ruling National Patriotic Party (NPP), reacted with fury to the search on Tuesday.
"I do not understand why the government will allow a bunch of gangsters to do what they feel like in our country," Cyril Alen, chairperson of the NPP, told Star Radio.