Is The Case Against Charles Taylor Falling Apart? -- Der SpiegelFormer Liberian President Charles Taylor has been on trial in The Hague for the last three years. The International Criminal Court accuses him of mass murder, rape and acts of terror. But the most promising prospect of using international law to punish a former dictator is threatening to fail.
The court is not spared anything, including this cross-examination on the subject of cannibalism.
Question: "How do you prepare a human being for a pot?" The witness: "We lay you down, slit your throat und butcher you and throw your head away, your intestines."
This is more than the court wants to hear. The audience turns away in disgust.
"With pepper and salt," the witness adds.
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My Comment: Long time readers of this blog know that I have been advocate for special courts that are specifically structured to prosecute war criminals and individuals responsible for unspeakable crimes. Lets face it, an Osama bin Laden cannot be convicted in a regular court room today. The real evidence is not there, and what has been obtained has been on the battlefield and/or in interrogation rooms.
The sad fact is that war criminals will not leave a paper trial, a long list of witnesses who received orders directly from the accused, and/or subordinates who will be more than willing to testify against their former leader. We can see this happening in the Hague today, in which the International Criminal Court has tons and tons of documents that detail war crimes against Charles Taylor, but little if any evidence linking the accused with them.
So .... will Charles Taylor be set free? In the present situation, I would not be surprised.
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