Prosecutors in the Hague have rested their case against former Liberianleader Charles Taylor who is accused of war crimes in neighboringSierra Leone. There are concerns that the special court is running out of money.
Theprosecution formally rested its case Friday after hearing from 91 witnesses in just over a year.Mr. Taylor is facing charges of war crimes and crimes against humanityincluding murder, rape, enslavement, and conscription of child soldiers.
The11-count indictment alleges that the former Liberian rebel chief ledmembers of Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front across the borderand he acted as their effective leader for much of Sierra Leone'sten-year civil war.
Mr. Taylor has pled not guilty to thecharges which are being heard in a special court jointly established bythe United Nations and the government of Sierra Leone. The Freetownsession of that court reached its final verdict Wednesday, finding thethree most senior surviving members of the rebel RUF guilty of murder,sexual enslavement, and attacks against U.N. troops.
Mr.Taylor's trial had been moved to The Hague because of fears that hissupporters might disrupt proceedings held in Sierra Leone.
Nowthe special court says Mr. Taylor may go free regardless of the trialif international donors do not cover a $5 million shortfall in thespecial court's $28 million budget. If the money runs out, ProsecutorStephen Rapp expects defense attorneys to ask for his release.
"Thedefense would be in there trying to move to get Taylor freed because itwouldn't be fair to hold him if he couldn't be tried. And that would bea strong argument on their part," he said. "We would, of course, resistit. We would fight to keep him detained. But that is the kind of riskthat a court faces. You can't hold somebody in jail indefinitely unlessyou are able to give him a trial."
Unlike the special courts forRwanda or the former Yugoslavia which are funded by mandatory dues,Rapp says the special court for Sierra Leone is supported by voluntarycontributions.
"It's sometimes a very challenging thing to raisethese funds because states don't commit to say we will give you thismuch this year and this much next and this much the following year," hesaid. "Each year they have to make a decision."
"And in every country inthe world, there are other needs that their government has to respondto. Particularly now with the world economic crisis that has hit somedeveloped countries very hard, and who have very high budget deficitsand a lot of needs within their borders, it's difficult to get thepledges that we need," he added.
Rapp expects a verdict by early nextyear, but only if money is provided to get the court through itsfunding gap this June, July, and August.
"It's been certainly awell-managed case," he said. "Since Taylor got the attorneys that hewanted, it has moved ahead very, very quickly. And it would be atragedy if this case were somehow not to be able to be concluded."
Thespecial court has scheduled oral submissions from Mr. Taylor's defenseto begin April 6 on a Motion for Judgment of Acquittal. If that isdenied, defense lawyers say the former Liberian leader will be theirfirst witness.