On 20 March 2008, Dutch prosecutors announced their intention to appeal to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands in the case of Guus Kouwenhoven, following his acquittal by the Dutch Court of Appeal in The Hague on 10 March 2008.

On 7 June 2006, the District Court sentenced Dutch businessman Guus Kouwenhoven to eight years imprisonment for violating the Dutch weapons embargo implementing UN Security Council sanctions on the Charles Taylor regime. Kouwenhoven was found guilty of selling arms to the President of Liberia in exchange for lucrative concessions to the Liberian-based Oriental Timber Company, of which Kouwenhoven was president.

On 10 March 2008, the Court of Appeal acquitted Kouwenhoven of all charges, citing insufficient evidence and contradictory witness testimony. On appeal, the prosecution had requested a term of 20 years’ imprisonment and a fine of € 450,000, alleging that Kouwenhoven participated in war crimes allegedly committed by Liberian troops and militias from 2000 to 2002.

The decision by the Court of Appeal coincides with the ongoing trial of Charles Taylor in The Hague. During testimony given between 19 and 21 March 2008, former Taylor associate and ‘Death Squad’ commander Joseph “Zigzag” Marzah described Taiwanese arms deliveries brought in ships by Kouwenhoven after Taylor had been elected president.