Taylor war crimes trial postponed until January

Judges on Aug. 20 agreed to delay until January the trial of the former Liberian president Charles Taylor on war crimes charges. The trial at The Hague -- the first time an African leader has faced an international tribunal -- was to have restarted this month. Taylor faces 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for allegedly backing the Revolutionary United Front, a rebel group that killed, maimed and raped thousands of people in neighboring Sierra Leone during a war that lasted 11 years. The conflict ended in 2002 after then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair sent troops to help the government in Freetown. Taylor sacked his defense team when his trial opened in June and boycotted the special UN-backed court, saying he wanted stronger legal representation. Judge Julia Sebutinde said the demand was a fair one, noting that the prosecution had left it unchallenged. "In the chamber's view, the period of four months is indeed a reasonable time... to grapple with a complicated case," she said. Taylor's new chief defense counsel, Courtenay Griffiths, a British lawyer, said: "We are anxious to get on with this trial. We appreciate the accused has spent a considerable amount of time in custody and we appreciate that there are other pressures on this court. Time allowed now will help reduce the length of the trial in due course, and save money." Since the trial opened, the special court has agreed to a new "financial package" of $100,000 a month so that Taylor can hire a top legal team for his defense. The 59-year-old could spend up to $2 million, depending on how long his trial takes. Estimates range from 12 to 18 months. Griffiths said prosecutors had submitted some 40,000 pages of material for examination, and a further 50,000 pages of potentially crucial material from Taylor's personal archives had surfaced in Liberia. If Taylor is found guilty, he is likely to spend the rest of his life in a British jail. The court has been criticized for being too expensive and too slow in bringing people to trial. Set up in 2002, the ad hoc court, consisting of international and Sierra Leonean judges, issued its first verdicts in June, when it found three militia leaders guilty of war crimes including mutilation, rape and the use of child soldiers in Sierra Leone's civil war. In doing so, it made legal history. It was the first time an international tribunal had ruled on the charge of recruitment of child soldiers. Taylor's trial is being held at The Hague because of fears it could lead to instability if held in Freetown.