Date: 20 August 2008 - 30 June 2009
Time: 09:30 - 17:00
Organizer: Special Court for Sierra Leone
Venue: ICC, The Hague

Following a four-week recess, the three-judge panel in the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor has granted a submission by the Defence to adjourn proceedings while the Registry investigates the imposition of new security measures on the accused.

The judges have now adjourned the trial until Wednesday 20 August at 9.30.

Following submissions by the Defence and the Prosecution on the matter, a representative from the Registry confirmed that Charles Taylor had exercised his right not to be present in court on Monday.

The trial may continue without the presence of the accused although the Defence submitted that this would have a negative bearing on the fair trial rights of the defendant.

Among the new measures that Taylor’s counsel Courtney Griffiths QC stated that his client objected to was the restraint purportedly put around his waist as he was transported to the court “as if a leashed animal”.

Taylor is being held in the Detention Unit in Scheveningen (The Hague), and is normally transported to the ICC premises in Voorburg on the other side city when the court is in session. The Detention Unit also accommodates ICC and ICTY detainees in separate wings.

The trial is taking place at the premises of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, but is being conducted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

 Live streaming of the Taylor trial

Charles Taylor, President of Liberia from 1997 to 2003, is charged with five counts of crimes against humanity, including murder, sexual slavery and violence, and enslavement; five counts of war crimes, including acts of terrorism and torture; and one count of other serious violations of international humanitarian law. Taylor is the first African head of state to go on trial for war crimes before an international tribunal. He has denied all of the 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, but has recognised the jurisdiction of the UN-backed Special Court. Taylor’s trial was moved from Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, to The Hague for security reasons.

Charles Taylor: case presentation
Directions to the ICC
Special Court for Sierra Leone
Live streaming of the Taylor trial