15 July 2009 / REUTERS, THE HAGUE
Liberia's former President Charles Taylor, the first African ruler to stand trial for war crimes, took the stand in his own defense on Tuesday, arguing that the case against him was full of misinformation and lies.
Taylor, 61, is charged with 11 counts of instigating murder, rape, mutilation, sexual slavery and conscripting child soldiers during the intertwined wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone in which more than 250,000 people were killed. Prosecutors, who closed their case in February, say Taylor directed Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in a campaign of terror against civilians, seeking to control neighboring Sierra Leone's diamond mines and destabilize its government to boost his regional influence. "It is quite incredible that such descriptions of me would come about," Taylor responded after his lawyer asked whether he was a terrorist. "The prosecution, because of disinformation, misinformation, lies, rumors, would associate me with such titles or descriptions." Taylor's defense began their case this week, two years after the start of the trial.
