Taylor witness 'mentally unfit'

2008-01-11 14:41

The Hague - Charles Taylor's defence attorney argued on Friday that a key prosecution witness at the former Liberian president's war crimes trial was mentally unstable.

Testimony from Varmuyan Sherif earlier this week linked the Liberian ex-president closely to rebels accused of atrocities in Sierra Leone's 10-year civil war.

British defence attorney Courtenay Griffiths suggested Sherif, one of Taylor's former body guards, was in mental anguish all the time he worked for Taylor because he knew Taylor's forces had killed members of his family in Liberia. Those killings were beyond the scope of the current trial.

"'Given what happened to my family, what am I doing working for this monster?' That was permanently in your mind, wasn't it?" Griffiths said, to which Sherif replied, "No."

"What I was putting to you quite bluntly is that you were crazy," Griffiths said. "I was never crazy," Sherif replied.

Murder, rape and terrorising civilians

Sherif, 39, testified that Taylor smuggled arms, cash and communications equipment to the Revolutionary United Front or RUF - one of the most notoriously brutal militias in the Sierra Leone war.

Prosecutors at the Special Court for Sierra Leone had filed 11 charges against Taylor, including murder, rape and terrorising civilians, saying he supported and armed the RUF and other rebels.

Taylor, the first former African head of state tried at an international tribunal, had pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Among Sherif's claims were that Taylor smuggled weapons and ammunition in rice sacks before handing them to rebels and that he gave United States dollars and a satellite phone to RUF leader Sam Bockarie.

Taylor 'father of the RUF'

Sherif was the first of nearly 60 witnesses from Taylor's inner circle whom the prosecution planned to call to support allegations that Taylor orchestrated atrocities in Sierra Leone from the Liberian capital, Monrovia.

Sherif said Taylor's influence with the RUF was so strong that he later had Bockarie replaced as the militia's leader.

"Mr Taylor was the father of the RUF," said Sherif on Thursday. The RUF was notorious for terrorising civilians by chopping off limbs and decapitating the corpses of its enemies.

Griffiths argued with Sherif over his claim that he was Taylor's confidante, and suggested his job was little more than to ensure Taylor's motorcade had fuel and full tires.

Griffiths said: "I suggest you were never as close to President Taylor as you claim to be. You say you were part of the inner circle, an insider, when you were not."

Taylor's trial resumed this week after a six-month interruption. It was adjourned in June after the opening session when Taylor boycotted the proceedings and fired his lawyer.

Earlier this week, a Sierra Leonean clergyman and teacher described in harrowing detail the massacre and decapitation of 101 men and the dismemberment of a child soldier.

- AP