Charles Taylor War Crimes Trial Ends Thursday

Naomi Campbell testified to receiving diamonds from Taylor

(IDEX Online News) – Judgment in the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor will be announced at 11am on Thursday, bringing to an end one of the bloodiest chapters in Africa's history.

Taylor was charged in an 11-count indictment alleging responsibility for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other serious violations of international humanitarian law committed by rebel forces in Sierra Leone during the country’s decade-long civil war.

The details of the indictment are a list of horrors. Taylor has been accused of terrorizing civil populations, killings, widespread acts of sexual violence against women and girls, burnings, recruiting children as soldiers, abductions and forced labor, looting and more. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

In the nearly five years that past since the trial opened on June 4, 2007 in The Hague, the Court heard live testimony from 94 prosecution witnesses and received written statements from four additional witnesses.

One of the witnesses was British model Naomi Campbell that testified she received diamonds from Taylor in 1997. The stones, suspected to be conflict diamonds, were handed to her after she met Taylor at a dinner by South African President Nelson Mandela. She told the court that two men came to her hotel room late at night and handed her a pouch containing “dirty stones.”

Her testimony led to greater international attention to the trial.

During the war in Sierra Leone, Taylor's forces focused on Kono district and its large diamond deposits. Their violent campaign in the region gave rise to the term blood diamonds, diamonds forcibly mined and traded for arms. Taylor also traded lumber for arms to support the war.

The Taylor judgment will be streamed over the internet on April 26 at 11am Hague time / 9am GMT. Click here or here to view the judgment.