Public Reaction in Sierra Leone to the Judgment of Charles Taylor

With the support of the Open Society Justice Initiative, the Center for Accountability and Rule of Law-Sierra Leone (CARL-SL) and the Fourah Bay College Human Rights Clinic (FBCHRC) conducted a series of outreach events in July 2012 in Freetown, Kenema, Kailahun, Kono, and Makeni to inform the Sierra Leone people about the judgment of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) in the case of The Prosecutor v. Charles Ghankay Taylor.  The outreach series consisted of a panel discussion in Freetown at the Fourah Bay College and public discussions in Kenema, Kailahun, Koidu (Kono), and Makeni.  These locations were selected for outreach events because the Trial Chamber specifically listed these as the locations of the crimes Taylor aided and abetted or planned.  During the public discussions, representatives from CARL-SL and the FBCHRC outlined the trial proceedings and briefly explained the Trial Chamber’s findings on each count and mode of liability.  Audience members then had the opportunity to ask questions and give their reactions to Taylor’s conviction and 50-year prison sentence.  At the outreach events, CARL-SL and FBCHRC also disseminated a three page summary of the 2,539-page judgment.

Samuel U.B. Saffa, President of the Fourah Bay College Human Rights Clinic, explains the counts on whichTaylor was charged and convicted.

Naturally, reactions to the verdict and sentencing judgment were mixed.  However, during all of the radio programs and the public discussions, multiple participants expressed satisfaction with Taylor’s conviction, saying that it set a precedent that anyone who perpetuates violence will be held responsible, thus deterring future leaders from committing these crimes.

At the more academically-focused panel discussion in Freetown, the conversation often revolved around the significance of the Taylor judgment to the global fight against impunity and Sierra Leone’s national justice system.  Civil society representatives lauded the several contributions of the Taylor trial to international justice, including the precedent that has been set that even a head of state will face justice if he or she commits serious crimes.  Students and community members in each location commented that Sierra Leonean political leaders should take note of the Taylor conviction in the run-up to Sierra Leone’s November 2012 general elections because they too will be made to account for their crimes if they use violence as a political tool.

In spite of these strong positive reactions, there are a number of lingering concerns among the general public about whether the Taylor trial and conviction benefits them in any way.  During the radio discussion program in Kono, one caller asked, “Will we be able to get our hands and feet back?  Will the people of Kono be able to get our diamonds back?”  These poignant questions reflect the gap between what the Taylor judgment adds to international criminal justice on a national and global level and what it tangibly offers victims in Sierra Leone in their daily lives.

In many ways, the reactions to the Taylor judgment in a particular location reflected the manner in which the war affected that area.  For instance, in Kailahun, where there is still visible destruction from the war, participants questions and comments centered on the issue of reparations and what tangible benefit the Taylor conviction could have on their everyday lives.  In explaining that the conviction and sentence had no impact on many members of the community, a widow who lost her husband and father of her children during the war adamantly stated that “if [the Special Court] give[s] Charles Taylor a 50 or 100-year sentence, or even kills him, it will not please us.” Her frustration was visceral as she broke down in tears while explaining the daily livelihood hardships that she and others in her community continue to face.   For her, the Taylor conviction does not alleviate her daily suffering.  One religious leader in Kailahun who spoke on behalf of his parishioners said that even though they accepted the Taylor verdict, he questioned how peace can be consolidated when all of these livelihood problems exist.

In Kono, where the civilian population was terrorized and some were forced to mine the very diamonds that financed the purchase of arms used against them, one young man asked whether the money that Charles Taylor made from the diamonds in Sierra Leone will eventually come back to Sierra Leoneans.  One person asked for Taylor’s bank account to be traced and the money brought to Sierra Leone to help victims, amputees, and people who are HIV positive because of the sexual violence that occurred during the war.

A woman at the public discussion in Kono expresses gratitude for the judgment dissemination and outreach effort.

In Kono and Makeni, which were major RUF strongholds during the war, an overwhelming number of participants wanted to know if Charles Taylor, who was in Liberia when the crimes were committed, could be tried and convicted what would be done about the Sierra Leoneans who directly perpetrated crimes against civilians and are still walking around free in their communities.  One nursing student in Makeni used an analogy to ask whether Sierra Leoneans who committed crimes during the war and have not faced justice would not commit the same crimes again because they had been able to do it with impunity the first time.  He stated that Charles Taylor was like a cancer, and even if the doctor surgically removes the tumor, the cancer may have already spread to other parts of the body, only to rear its ugly head again.  The concern of that young man for perpetrators to be brought to book stands in stark contrast to the concerns of ex-combatants themselves.  An ex-combatant[1] who is currently a student in Makeni listened carefully to the facilitators’ explanation about the reduction of Taylor’s sentence by six years due to time already served in detention during trial and asked whether the sentence of his “boss Issa [Sesay]” would also be reduced accordingly.  In spite of these contrasting concerns, there was no visible tension in the room between ex-combatants and others.

Perhaps the situation of the two students in Makeni, much like all of the reactions expressed during the outreach events, merely demonstrates the varied perspectives of Sierra Leoneans on what justice means to them.

Eleanor Thompson is a consultant with the Open Society Justice Initiative and traveled throughout Sierra Leone in July to observe the outreach events described. 


[1] The author only identifies this participant as an ex-combatant because of the question asked, not because the participant identified himself as an ex-combatant.

82 Comments

  1. We Africans will continue to remain backward. Here you have Sierra Leoneans saying the days of impunity for leaders are over. However they say nothing about the war crimes committed by President Bush and Blair in iraq nor nothing about Sokozy,Cameron or that big disappointment Baraack Obama in Libya.

    Why wouldnt ‘the amputees be demanding prostetics limbs from the international community instead of saying by convicting Taylor their hands and feet have grown back ” What nonsense!

    Eleanor Thompson, Why don’t you write about what kind of reception Brenda Hollis got when she came to Liberia. Better still try and justify why Taylor got 50 years for only aiding and abbetting and the Congolese war lord who was covicted of directly recruiting child soldiers only got 14 years by the ICC. Try justifying to us how in the same Special Court members of the CDF convicted of direct responsibility, aiding and abbetting, JCE ordering and instigating of crimes were only sentenced between 15 and 25 .

    1. Many thanks for this piece on how people of Sierra leone are reacting to taylor verdict. However, I agree with one of your respondents who stated that” Charles Taylor was like a cancer, and even if the doctor surgically removes the tumor, the cancer may have already spread to other parts of the body, only to rear its ugly head again.” This is how much physical and emotional damage was done to these peaceful people. Their asking for whether they will get back their lost body parts is ‘symbolic’ because in reality this is impossible, and should not be used as means add insults to injuries like taylor support group has used in the past. As long taylor got the full weight of the law, as has happened, we will have time to heal and move on! It would be like asking taylor to bring back people who got eaten as meal by him and his rebels! It’s like asking taylor to find fathers of children born from raspes by taylor and his rebels! And it would be like Liberians asking taylor to bring back all personal properties damaged by his rebel gropup! You see, this man caused so much to West africa, that any group that comes out in support of what he did to the people, under the shadow of justice is not only creating difficulties of healing, but setting a tone for next fight that may leave no one alive in that region! Taylor is a criminal that africa should not condon!

    2. Aki,

      Please don’t forget that this is Blair and Bush kind of justice, all what these Sierra Leoneans can do is to sing praises to their white masters with or without limbs. This is how blind they are to international criminal justice. I some times wonder, what they stand to gain from this upside down justice.

      1. Harris, why do you have to always sound racist in your ‘scholary’ presentations? Just curious, and sad about this behavior of yours! This trial is no white or black thing! Victims are mostly black, justices of this trial are mostly black, and the Nation that set this trial is black, why then are you so bitter agaist the whites? You need to take a course; ‘Diversity’ and another of ‘anger management’ plus study on ‘display agression!’ These might help your delusional mentality that seems to over take your reasoning in charles taylor trial!

  2. Taylor’s conviction has not solved anything for sierra Leone, considering the countless amputees in sierra Leone along with those Sierra Leoneans who actually cut the limbs of their compatriots. actual doers are free walking down the streets of Freetown and other major cities. if the Special court is really serious and means business, it would make annual budgetary allocation to cater to the countless victims(amputees) and bring those murderous to book. Sierra Leoneans shud not rejoice about Taylor’s conviction because many liberians were killed at the hands of sierra Leoneans mercernaries from 1985 invasion of liberia to the beginning of the civil war in liberia. We are equally preparing our legal briefs to press charges against the following leaders of Sierra Leone for aiding and abetting rebel groups in liberia(ULIMO, AND LURD), these would include: Valentine Strasser, Mada Bio, and Pres. Ahmed Tejan Kabbah.

    1. Plenyonon, we all agree that many others are as equally quilty as those already convicted. However, this being court of law, you have the right to persue this legally, and not faulting why this is not being done now as the trials of human rights abuses are ongoing. Secondly, you won’t see ‘physical outcomes’ right away when monies that would have been taken to pay for such services were stacked in overseas banks by culprits! you sound like you are blaming the victims for not choosing who their torturers ahould have been. In the long run, however, History will teach our next generation of penalty for ‘wrong-doings’ and a little lesson to learn!

  3. Mr. Aki, people sitting down at ICC are well learned people. These people you named here are people who understood what they were doing. In the first place, they were not eating human beings’ hearts and livers as our Charles Taylor was doing in Gbangai. None of them have gone to jail before. Don’t forget to remember when our Charles Taylor passed order to MASSACRE all our African brothers, sisters, and their children, who already were Liberians purposely because their countries of origin contributed to ECOWAS who sent ECOMOG (TROOP) to Liberia to stop us killing one another. This order was carried out by you people and many of our African brothers and their families lost their lives. To you this was a good step taken by your president Taylor. Aki, Charles Taylor inhuman behavior is beyound reasonable doubt.
    You are talking about these people, President Bush and others failing to remember how Sadam Housein killed thousands of the Kurdish people in Iraq by putting Acid on them and don’t even mention Khadafi, the number one Terrorist in Africa. Mr. Aki, your Charles Taylor is no where good and that’s the reason why most of us don’t want to hear about him.

  4. Here are the 11 most recent filings.

    Corrigendum to notice of appeal of Charles Ghankay Taylor

    See link: http://www.sc-sl.org/scsl/public/SCSL-03-01-Talyor%20Appeal/SCSL-03-01-A-1304.pdf

    Public Defence motion for extension of time and page limits for written submissions pursuant Rules 111,112 and113

    See link: http://www.sc-sl.org/scsl/public/SCSL-03-01-Talyor%20Appeal/SCSL-03-01-A-1305.pdf

    Prosecution consolidated motion pursuant to Scheduling order for written submission s regarding Rules 111,112 and 113

    See link: http://www.sc-sl.org/scsl/public/SCSL-03-01-Talyor%20Appeal/SCSL-03-01-A-1306.pdf

    Prosecution response to Defence motion for extension of time and page limits for written submissions pursuant to rule 111, 112 and 113

    See link: http://www.sc-sl.org/scsl/public/SCSL-03-01-Talyor%20Appeal/SCSL-03-01-A-1307.pdf

    Defence response to Prosecution consolidated motion pursuant to scheduling Order for written submissions regarding Rules 111,112 and 113

    See link: http://www.sc-sl.org/scsl/public/SCSL-03-01-Talyor%20Appeal/SCSL-03-01-A-1308.pdf

    Defence motion to re-classify as public the list of authorities in the notice of appeal of Charles Ghankay Taylor

    See link: http://www.sc-sl.org/scsl/public/SCSL-03-01-Talyor%20Appeal/SCSL-03-01-A-1309.pdf

    Defence reply to Prosecution response to Defence motion for extensions of time and page limits for written submissions pursuant to Rules 111,112 and 113

    See link: http://www.sc-sl.org/scsl/public/SCSL-03-01-Talyor%20Appeal/SCSL-03-01-A-1310.pdf

    Take care,

    Sekou

    1. Prosecution reply to Defence response to Prosecution consolidated motion pursuant to scheduling Order for written submissions regarding Rules 111,112 and 113

      See link: http://www.sc-sl.org/scsl/public/SCSL-03-01-Talyor%20Appeal/SCSL-03-01-A-1311.pdf

      Prosecution response to Charles Ghankay Taylor’s motion for partial voluntary withdrawal or disqualification of appeals chamber Judges

      See link: http://www.sc-sl.org/scsl/public/SCSL-03-01-Talyor%20Appeal/SCSL-03-01-A-1312.pdf

      Defence reply to Prosecution response to Charles Ghankay Taylor’s motion for partial voluntary withdrawal or disqualification of appeals chamber Judges

      See link: http://www.sc-sl.org/scsl/public/SCSL-03-01-Talyor%20Appeal/SCSL-03-01-A-1313.pdf

      Under seal

      See link: http://www.sc-sl.org/scsl/public/SCSL-03-01-Talyor%20Appeal/SCSL-03-01-T-1314%20CONFIDENTIAL%20CERTIFICATE.pdf

      Take care,

      Sekou

      1. you name it.
        i don’t know what sekou thinks he’s doing. if anyone is interested in the court, he can look it up himself. any grown up reader with access to internet can do.

  5. If haters of Mr. Taylor could only take off their emotional masks and see things from legal point of view, they would see things differently. Many people who support Mr. Taylor don’t know him. They only know Mr. Taylor as one of Liberia’s presidents. Dispensations of justice are reasons many are defending Mr. Taylor. From the day of arrest, Taylor refusal to appear at his pre trial hearing, the Campbell’s subpoena, defense motions v. prosecution motions…length of sentence v. crime found guilty of, the Justice Sow’s statement and the pending defense motion to replaced appeal judges. These are misconducts of justice , reasons most people are supporting Mr. Taylor. It’s beyond my understanding why would the so-called ICC professed to be a fair and non bias institution, while on the other hand can’t win a trial on its merit.

    1. You are one of those creating haters for taylor. Taylor needs to tell some of you to shut up because you are doing him no good by agitating victims such as telling them to ask for their limbs to grow back and all the garbage you fume out like dragon! Taylor would have probably stood a chance of clemency if praise singers were not creating problems for him by their ignorance and arrogance toward others, even though most have low education as can be seen from expressions and written thoughts on this site. Seriously, i challenge most of you academically! You must be the most empty drums of Africa!

      1. WOW, talking about people having “low education” and “empty drum of Africa”. In the last couple of months your writing has changed drastically. It went from worst to ridiculous. Wherever you are your brain is being consumed by termites. LMAO!

  6. My people,

    Taylor only became a target because he refuse to let them mine our oil and take 99% and we take 1%. The type of deal ELLEN JOHNSON SIRLEAF sign for the benefit of she, her children, immidiate relatives, friends both home and at large. I don’t really know why Freetown keep making mokery of the selves. The lack of access to the real world is actually hurting our people…

    1. Taylor refused to sell Liberian oil, even though there were no oil wells, and Noko5, what about timber and diamonds in question? you need to wake up from your delusion and smell the coffee! Your taylor even went as far as selling liberian children indirectly to highest bidders! Look at countless liberian children worldwide in refugee camps who must have difficult time making ends meet! Taylor created prostitution in monrovia even before he fled to Nigeria, and taking with him, as alleged, 26 teen girls that he later presented to his nigerian big shots! Don’t you realize we are putting things together to make sure his support group never resurface their monsterious face in Liberia? I have news for you if you keep coming back here because no one knows more about what went on than people like you. That is why it makes me upset to hear your nonesense about Ellen and liberian oil!

    2. noko1-10
      nobody takes you seriously since you laughed at victims.
      taylor sold oil like everyone else on the continent. but he forgot, that that oil didn’t belong to himself but to the people of liberia.

  7. If people of Sierra Leone were smart enough, I bet they will pray to Taylor for forgiveness and go burn down properties of these evil people using their good name to continue their racist foreign policies hurt black people. Fallah, u said a few hours ago that Ellen Johnson was giving power to people base on what they know, and not who’s related. Sir, do u mind defending this neo-colonial indirect (puppet) regime now? Anyone of your Anti-Taylorists/pro-Ellenors can chip in too, if they want. Some of us said this trial was robbing salt in our injuries from the start, and we’ve been proven from the genesis even as u guys courageously ignored the fact all along. http: //allafrica.com/stories/201208071174.html Good luck ecaping such disgrace!! 🙂

    1. Okay, we agree that we have returned to emotional out-bursts and tic-for-tac at the end of this trial. However, I suggest we do not pretend there is no deep hatred between the taylor camp vs the justice seekers on this site. The candid expressions we make here might be therapeutic for all. We have learned a lot from how we think as africans and how deeply divided we remain in our fight for survival in modern times. I hope we do not cave in to anyone trying to surpress freedom of expressions from others just because they are loosing the case. It is impossible to respond to some statements on this site without being a little hash as everyone seems to be on different levels of thought expressions, and at times lacking basic communication objectives. However, I agree that we must have point of agreement on being civil toward one another. With this I take leave ….

      1. Thanks for the clarification; quitting is not in the blood of the Kisi worrier. He would continue to fight until the last breath leaves his body. LMAO!

      2. Fallah,
        Your departure has been overdue, atleast we can now breath clean air…bye and don’t ever bring your butts back here.. thank you.

        1. NOKO5 needs to read before posting! Please re-read my response to Mr. What so you don’t rejoice for my departure. I am here to stay even though your camp, firstly, thought i was dead, since you believed I was Tom Kamara. Now you wish I go away. No, man, I will outlive all of you guys. I have means to a good healthy happy life than most of you can only dream of! Taylor is the one you should wish to get his butts to prison so we can turn our precious time to literature instead! Thank you again Mr.Brother in law!

          1. Fallah,

            You say what!! BROTHER IN LAW??? You cracked me real real bad tody… Fallah you are NUTS..

            This time Im gonna quit posting again, because all kinds of people are back to talk more amore trash…switzerland, bananaland, grandpea-land, potato land…JUSTICE SOW WILL COOK YOUR SOUP. ITS COMING..

          2. Dear Taegin Stevenson,

            I am total outraged! You allowed the below posting from swiss referring to others as criminal without using the word alleged, while on the other hand you failed to published my comment because as you put it, my comment “contained language that could be considered personal insults towards other readers without addressing the substantive arguments” I asked you to direct me to the statement, paragraph or sentence that contained language that could be considered personal insult, but you didn’t.
            I am convinced and agreed with one of the contributors that you are bias and maybe unfit to be a moderator on this site. You are taking away the momentum the site once used to have.

            Thanks.

            WHAT?

            On August 29, 2012 at 8:24 am, swizz said:
            sekou
            what a pity that you are unable to provide a link. so for once the taylobans should get into their boots and figure it out for themselves. but since they are more familiar with crimes, they will not arrive at finding something on the web

    2. Ms moderator, may I ask why my post was displayed only to be removed at some point. Am I among the “others” grouped with JTF and if so what foul language have I included that the site’s slackness has not yet tolerated worse. It seems to me that moderation professionalism has really sunk to a disgraceful low level due to the fact that you now glaringly take sides with some rude and foul languaged users and silence those whose views seem unfavourable to yours. All I wrote about was on my dismay that those who keep attacking others are left unabatted and that the so-called editorial writtings are taking a totally biased and unobjective leaning. If this is what ranks my comments with “JTF & others” then I am indeed far sorrier (sic) for this “independent” site. I shall not at this point name those who have explicitly been attacking people whose views differ from theirs that you Ms Stevenson have allowed to run riot. The comments are still on here for all to see. My advise is to you is play FAIR.

      1. Rgk007, you well expressed that you and others posts were denied, yet you sound personal as if yours was singled out! We need to understand one thing here; that is we need to respect decisions taken by the moderators of this site. I sometimes feel awful too when my post is rejected, as was recently along with jtf’s. I wished it had been accepted, but all the same i accept the decision and respect the moderators as I would want to be treated had i been the moderator of this site..this insn’t hard to do, rkg007!

        1. Until we can learn how to use the proper legal verb and adverb to describe a person’s without direct personal attacks, improper posting will not be posted, simple as that. Accusing moderators of being bias is preposterous to say the least. If at all any biasness do exit on this site, it’s in favor of the (haters) not people of justice. The reason, all moderators are Sierra Leoneans and as a human everybody are bias to some degrees. Consequently, if anyone is not pleased with how things are run around here, there are options. Opened your own site or just don’t comment. Period!

      2. Ms Stevenson I ask again for my coments to be posted as you have no justification for doing otherwise. I see you are fond of ignoring site users complaints and commentaries except when your fellow Americans/caucasians write and you’re always too glad to respond to them. If you are not good enough for what you’ve taken on then quit. I must say – without mincing words – your position towards site users is quite rude.

        1. Dear rgk007,

          If you resubmit your comment, we will review and post. We appreciate your contributions to the website and hope you able continue to comment on the issues regarding the trial.

          Thank you.

          1. Dear Taegin Stevenson,
            Thanks for bringing to my attention my “comment cannot be approved” However, would you please help me by directly pointing to the part of my comment that doesn’t comply with rules of conduct. I would be glad to ratify the misconduct and resubmit. As is, I am not sure if the entire or a part of my comment is out of order.

            Thanks.

            Sincerely,

            WHAT?

          2. Dear WHAT?,

            A few of your comments contained language that could be considered personal insults towards other readers without addressing the substantive arguments. We would like readers to address issues regarding the trial without resorting to such language.

            Thank you.

          3. what
            people who do not know how to use language sometimes take weapons to make their opinion clear.

          4. Wecome back Swizz. I feel energized just from seeing your posts! We must make the last stand against ‘injustice’ and crush all evil doers through our posts. We need to educate the masses of the people against tyrants such as we see on this blog. These guys should not get any sleep; day or night. Taylor should remain awake and have nightmares from reading our posts, Swizz. All supporters should remain on the check list for ‘things to do list’ on daily basis! Again, I salute your return, Swizz.

          5. tanx fallah
            it’s a pleasure to read your comments. you’re the lighthouse in this obscure scene. i’m sorry to have you left alone for a few weeks. i had to free my mind from all the thruth-bending comments too often seen here. it can really make one sick.
            you do a good and important job on this site. without you, it was just another propaganda-site for taylobans.
            keep on writing, bud. i adore your strength.

        2. rpg007
          in modern times we alltogether gave the power to something bigger (the state). it’s called the social contract. if somebody hurts me, i will not go and hurt him back. i will go to the authorities and they will suit the perpetrator. that’s what the court is for.
          it’s about the same on this site.

    1. No,Mr. What, I am not quiting. I simply meant taking leave of the subject i commented about.Jfallahmenjor is here to stay! We are not yet done with charles taylor, the convict. Hope you understand this time..thanks sir, good try.

    1. Noko5,
      I saw this article in the Daily Observer but can’t find where it is mentioned on the Special Court’s website. Sekou do you have any information or a link ? This is a very interesting development if true.

      1. Aki,

        Remember they will try not to publish anything that has to with the success of Mr. Tyalor: However THE GREAT GOD is not sleeping; their devious behavior will always be expose everytime nomatter how much it delays..Take care brother..

      2. Dear Aki,

        No, I do not have any information concerning this report. I am only able to locate the publishing source the Daily Observer. I will suggest that you contact the Daily Observer and ask that they verify their account; if they are a liable publisher.

        I am having problems again viewing documents on the courts server. However, if this is true, there appears to be some rethinking of the trial Mr. Taylor received. There are some documents waiting to be reviewed and when the server comes back online I will provide the link.

        Here is the contact link for Freetown;

        The Special Court for Sierra Leone
        Jomo Kenyatta Road
        New England, Freetown
        Sierra Leone
        Telephone: +232 22 297000
        General: scsl-mail@un.org
        Personnel: scsl-personnel@un.org
        Outreach and Public Affairs: scsl-pressoffice@un.org

        Here is the contact link for New York;

        Special Court for Sierra Leone
        Chrysler Building
        405 Lexington Avenue
        5th Floor, Room 5090
        New York, N.Y. 10174
        Phone: +1 (212) 457-1793
        FAX: +1 (212) 457-4059

        Take care,

        Sekou

        1. taylobans know how to kill, but not how to look up a simple homesite. poor taylobans with a leader in jail. hopefully even taylor can read

    2. noko1-10
      there are no news been kept from public. it’s the same old conspiracy-theory taylobans love so much.

    1. Dear jfallahmenjor,

      Your comment will not be approved because it does not comply with our guidelines. We can approve if you remove the third sentence, beginning with “If you bring…” and two sentences in the middle of the paragraph, beginning with “If it were for…” and ending with “yoke for daily living”.

      Thank you.

  8. Before Jesus Christ was put on the pole, he plainly told us that he will come back. Before his return, he said, there will be no peace on earth, rather, mans’ owns enemy will be his own house-hold and this is seen today.Today, unsatisfy group of people organished themselveves called Terrorist (Al-qaeda) and go all around the World killing indescriminately. This group is head by Al-qaeda which was led by Osama bin ladin who led millions of innocent people to their earlier graves.
    The West was seriously affected with special reference to the United States of America. The interesting part about this group is that they carry on the same havoc on their on people. For examples, in Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria and many other parts of the World. The Western World at last decided to supresse them and by so doing America created an Unman Plane. This development by the United States of America was bringing fear in these human killers who do not want to die but kill others yet has turned against America. The same individuals who are been killed on dailly basis by these Terrorists and Al-qaedas are sueing America for using Unman Plane in their countries which means they preferred the Terrorists and Al-qaedas to be killing them.
    In my country Liberia, it is acceptable that all the Judges in Charles Taylor’s trial at the Hague are Bias except Judge Sow according Charles Taylor’s supporters and the ICC is all together against Taylor. The only fitting Court in this trial is the Suprime Court of Liberia to be presided over by Judge Sow and that will make Taylor supporters satisfy. The President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is stealing all the resources of Liberia, converting everyting in her own name and her children, says Taylors supporters. Charles Taylor did not do anything with the Liberian resources, he left everything untouched.
    From today I am out of this websit until futher order.

    ‘CHRIST SAID THERE WILL BE NO PEACE AT THE ENDING’

    1. Jtf, I beg you to reconsider your decision. You are admired and i personally love your posts. Don’t let these guys run you off. They love to see someone like you quit! This is just my personal advice to you. you are here for sake of victims and not to expect people to agree with your opinions. You have contributed tremendiously and we are almost there, jtf! please Jtf, do this for the victims sake!

  9. Mr. jfallahmenjor, thank you for your request for me to continue posting comments. As far as Charles Taylor’s trial at the Hague for his involvement in Sierra Leone is concern, I am done with it because he is found guilty. I don’t care what comes from his pile of mercenaries in Liberia, he is guilty. They have no more hope and that’s why they are very ruthless in their writings. (He that is dawn needs no fall). A typical example is that you are no more seeing anti-taylor posting on this website after the guilty verdict. Continuous arguing with his mercernaries in Liberia does not make any sense to me because their survival is their Bosseman’s return and they are right.
    As of now, my priority is my children, grand-children. great grand-children. and the rest of my family to stand ready incase anything turn round and he is release to defend themselves against his waiting mercernaries in the country. jfallahmenjor, to be frank to you I know this man from his childhood to the present and I knew the in and out of all his movement during his regime. I would have been one of the Top Members of his Regime but, I am a born Christian and I believed that this is not my home but just passing through. I was not with him but the people that were with him were with me. Whatever I wrote on this website is a true fact. Charles Taylor really destroyed Liberia. For example, the two Turbo Engine in Bong Mines that would have supplied the whole of West Africa with current are today in Burkina faso why Liberians are in darkiness. Will you keep arguing with people who support such a person and who do you think they are, patriotic Liberians?. To me it is better to leave them with this website. Their writings will not have any impact on what going on in the trial which they termed as Bias, Juggle Justice, White-Man Court against Black-Man.

    1. Jtf, you are absolutely right, and it pains to see these guys posing as ‘patriots’ of Liberia, when, in fact, they are ‘opportunists’ whose life depended on taylor remaining in power. I agree they are ‘done’ with the moment taylor was convicted and sentenced, but we need to stop their dirty ‘propaganda about the New Regime of Ellen that has brought New Day to Liberians. This is their new role and they will stop at nothing except ‘equal force’ that educates the masses against their views!
      I am satisfied with your response, and respect your decision Jtf. I am staying to hold back the ‘Fort’ and incase you return the fort shall be strong and holding back the ‘infidel!’
      Remember you are already counted as one of the’greatest’ patriots in my ‘account’ of taylor trial! Thank you very much comrade jtf.

      1. jtf, fallah
        count on my support.
        nobody takes taylobans seriously. everybody on the whole planet know what they did. we are only telling them to go back to where they belong.

  10. Boy! Justice is not fair alot of the time. Here we have Anders Breivik sentenced to only 21 years in a luxurious Norwegian prison. On the other hand Charles Taylor is sentenced to 50 years in a dungeon in England for only aiding and abetting people that supposedly were stupid enough to carry out his orders from Monrovia against their own people.

    1. aki
      stop talking of “only” in relation to aiding and abetting. it’s a bloody crime to aid and abet killings, torture, cannibalism aso. you are backing a murderer here. you must be too blunt to recognise.

  11. Hi taylor men, bad news for you again; Hissene Habre, former leader of Chad, who had lived in exile for last 20 years, to be tried for crimes against civilians during his 8 year rule that ended in 1990! This is not work of the West gentlemen. This is justice at work. There seems to be ‘no turning back’ to impunity! This shows that taylor is not the only criminal singled out, nor this being the inner work of the CIA. Flee africa now if you don’t want to be tried because it may take years but your turn is approaching..think about it..after twenty years, someone is being brought to trial!

  12. Dear Aki,

    The Daily Observer is correct; the Defense intends to call as a witness on appeal, former Special Court Justice EL Hadji Malick Sow;

    “Judge Sow is expected to testify about his statement that there were “no deliberations” as is alleged in Ground of Appeal 36 of the Notice of Appeal, including his presence (or lack thereof) at any purported deliberations amongst the Justices of Trial Chamber II;

    The Defense’s inquiry through Justice Sow will be limited to establishing the fact of there being no deliberations as alleged in Ground of Appeal 36, and will not extend to the substance of any discussion between Justices which might arguably be viewed as part of a purposed “deliberative” process;

    Justice Sow will also testify and expand upon his statement, in respect of Ground of Appeal 37, “that the whole system is not consistent with all the principles we know and love, and the system is not consistent with all the values on international criminal justice”;

    Justice Sow will further testify about the e-mail of 11 may 2012 that he wrote to all Justices of the Special Court (except Justice Julia Sebutinde). Copying lead defense and prosecution counsel; and

    The Defense intends to present evidence relating to the physical presence of the Justices of the Trial Chamber II within the courthouse premises between the date of the conclusion of the last hearing before Trial Chamber II (i.e., 11 March 2011) and the date on which the Judgment was orally rendered (i.e., 26 April 2012).”

    I am unable at this time to provide you with a link to this document; nevertheless, once the courts sever come back online an update will be forth coming.

    Take care,

    Sekou

    1. Sekou,
      Thanks for the information. I have been unable to open the Adobe case files on the Special Court’s website for the last ten days.

    2. I must say well-done to you Sekou for the passion which you put into information research and the objectivity of conveying such information. This information should really be coming from this site but i guess we have to be thankful for fellows like yourself. I suppose Mr Sow saw through all the charade plus the shallow and shabby manner through which the plot was concluded. He could not believe how such laughable blanket “Crediblity” was awarded to see-through liars; how Justice Lusick passed judgement from a scripted narrative based primarily on prosecution conjecture and lack of concrete evidence – even borrowing the term ” two-headed Janus” from their Co-UN employees ; the open aggression of the bench towards the defence and, the personal matter of himself (Justice Sow) being belittled by the two “key” judges at every given opportunity.Therefore, for him (Sow) to have prepared his speech beforehand, meant that Mr Malik Sow just like the Defence team and the Accused (whosover he might be because real justice is “blind”) knew “Real Justice” stood absolutely “No Chance”.

      1. rpk007
        all victims of your beloved taylor did have no chance. and they are not served hot meals twice a day in Europe. oh no, they have to search for any meal too often on stumps instead of legs.

        1. Not worth writting your name. I see you had use of your neighbour’s computer this morning as you’ve spewed about 5 to 6 pesty and unsolicited comments so early in the day. Only a certified pest can hack that feat. All you’ve scribbled makes pure zero sense so I would’nt be able to comment on intellectually bankrupt ranting. Stick with your peers.

    3. sekou
      what a pity that you are unable to provide a link. so for once the taylobans should get into their boots and figure it out for themselves. but since they are more familiar with crimes, they will not arrive at finding something on the web.

  13. To all my guys working behind the scenes of this site:
    With all due respect, u guys don’t have to keep providing explanations as to why some post are not making the page. I respect the fact that you’re respectful enough trying to please views and their individual view points! But, I encourage u to focus on your tasks and forget the rules breakers on here,

    It’s each man’s responsibility to be as nice as possible to see their post survive the caught! No matter how deep and intolerable the ignorance, when invited at every given chance, a man has a choice to chose which party to attend and how he/she wants to appear in public gatherings. The phone can ring all it wants, but I don’t have to pick up each time someone call.

    Liberian man say “Dat’s my 2sense o!”

    Take care and keep the hard work,

    Tomas

  14. As imperfect as we are-it would mean so much to humanity if mankind found true peace.

    Below is an article I think may be inspiring to some and hopefully win over others.

    We Can Love What We Are

    You know Randy, there is one thing I know for sure: I could never be a successful candidate for the Miss Universe beauty contest. Even if I would have the looks and brains this contest requires-which I do not-I would still fail for the very simple reason that I don’t believe in world-peace. I’m sorry. I just don’t. Now that I have made that clear I can confess: the study of International human rights law has predominated my life for quite a long time. It’s been said many times: human rights lawyers are wishful thinkers. Maybe they are, maybe they are not-I do not know. What I do know that it is up to us to keep up the hope. The hope that we can create a better world through peace and justice. A better world… would be a mighty achievement indeed. A world where we can live together, where we would have the possibility to protect our rights and to respect the rights of the other. Because the latter is nothing else than the peace itself. And if there is peace? Everything is possible in peace…

    -Szilvia Csevár

    See link: http://rcbenglishclass.blogspot.com/2010/06/we-can-love-what-we-are.html

    Take care,

    Sekou

    1. Dear Sekou,

      We apologize for the delay in getting this comment posted. This comment was directed into our spam folder and was not discovered until today. Thank you for your persistence in following up. Our technical team is looking into ways to let people know their comment is held in moderation or labeled as spam for future development.

      Regards,
      Taegin

      1. Dear Taegin Stevenson,

        Your apology is accepted. I do agree there is a great deal of electronic traffic these days.

        Thank you very much.

        Take care,

        Sekou

  15. Hi Mr. What..Don’t you think if your allegations were true as you seemed to believe, your post of August 30th, calling moderator;’unfit’ wouldn’t have gotten approved? Anyway, this is no surprise for me since frustrations sometimes get one to loose self esteem and image! Hope we do not get ‘lower’ than this What. This should be considered a ‘debate’ and getting personal is not only rediculious, but says a lot about how we think as africans, especially when we ‘disagree!’

  16. Blood diamond issues hunts Liberia. Could it be that Mr. Taylor is still dealing and benefiting from blood diamonds in Liberia?

  17. sierra leone is back on it feet , there is no cause to complain about that . the knows what to do when things wrong . i see no reason why we are not order of the day .we have to wait a little to know exactly what is happing

  18. Dear All,
    If you have been having trouble opening up the links on the Special Court website in Internet Explorer try Opera. For some reason Internet Explorer stopped working for me so I tried Opera and was able to open the files such as the ones Sekou posted above.

    1. Dear Aki,

      There is also Firefox and Google Chrome; these browsers may work as well; Good luck.

      Take care,

      Sekou

  19. Recent update

    Separate opinion of Justice George Gelaga King on Decision on Charles Ghankay Taylor’s motion for partial voluntary withdrawal or disqualification of appeals Chamber Judges

    See link: http://www.sc-sl.org/scsl/public/SCSL-03-01-Talyor%20Appeal/SCSL-03-01-A-1324.pdf

    Decision on Charles Ghankay Taylor’s motion for partial voluntary withdrawal or disqualification of appeals chamber Judges.

    See link: http://www.sc-sl.org/scsl/public/SCSL-03-01-Talyor%20Appeal/SCSL-03-01-A-1323.pdf

    Take care,

    Sekou

    1. What a show of shame indeed! Real Justice was denied and now a real appeal is about to face the same old rogues. I am ashamed that a Nigerian Judge is part of this charade that ambushed Justice Sow and now waiting to hear Mr Taylor’s already decided appeal. Justice Sow & Gelaga King might just be the few good eggs.

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