Charles Taylor flown to The Hague

FREETOWN – Former Liberian President Charles Taylor left Sierra Leone yesterday for the Netherlands for a long-awaited trial on charges of allegedly backing brutal rebels in Sierra Leone.

Court spokesman Peter Andersen said Taylor was flown by UN helicopter to the airport on the outskirts of Sierra Leone’s capital and escorted onto a plane that took off shortly afterward for the Netherlands. The Netherlands had agreed his trial could be held at The Hague and the last logistical hurdles for his transfer were cleared Monday.The Sierra Leone court had asked the Hague-based International Criminal Court to host the trial, fearing Taylor’s trial in Africa might revive regional instability.The Sierra Leone court’s officials will conduct the proceedings, with the ICC providing only courtrooms and a jail during the trial.Taylor faces 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity stemming from his alleged backing of Sierra Leonean rebels, who terrorised victims by chopping off their arms, legs, ears and lips during the 1991-2002 civil war.Although the charges refer only to Sierra Leone, Taylor also is accused of fomenting violence in his homeland and elsewhere in West Africa.Taylor launched a Liberian insurgency in 1989 and won elections that handed him the presidency in 1997.Rebels took up arms against him three years later, and Taylor fled to Nigeria in 2003.The Netherlands had agreed to host the trial on condition that a third country jail Taylor if he is convicted or take him in if acquitted.Denmark, Austria and Sweden had all rejected requests to jail Taylor, but Britain stepped forward last week to announce it would jail him if he were convicted.On Monday, the Sierra Leone tribunal formally authorised Taylor’s transfer.The Sierra Leone court added that extra money may have to be spent so Taylor’s trial will be accessible to Sierra Leoneans, who suffered at the hands of the brutal rebel movement Taylor is accused of backing and directing.The road to trial for Taylor began when he went into exile in Nigeria in August 2003 as part of a deal that helped end Liberia’s 14-year civil war.After the Nigerian government agreed in March to a request from Taylor’s successor as Liberia’s president to hand him over, he tried to slip away but was captured and flown to Sierra Leone.He has been in the Special Court’s detention facilities in the Sierra Leonean capital since March 29 and pleaded not guilty at an April 3 arraignment.- Nampa-APThe Netherlands had agreed his trial could be held at The Hague and the last logistical hurdles for his transfer were cleared Monday.The Sierra Leone court had asked the Hague-based International Criminal Court to host the trial, fearing Taylor’s trial in Africa might revive regional instability.The Sierra Leone court’s officials will conduct the proceedings, with the ICC providing only courtrooms and a jail during the trial.Taylor faces 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity stemming from his alleged backing of Sierra Leonean rebels, who terrorised victims by chopping off their arms, legs, ears and lips during the 1991-2002 civil war.Although the charges refer only to Sierra Leone, Taylor also is accused of fomenting violence in his homeland and elsewhere in West Africa.Taylor launched a Liberian insurgency in 1989 and won elections that handed him the presidency in 1997.Rebels took up arms against him three years later, and Taylor fled to Nigeria in 2003.The Netherlands had agreed to host the trial on condition that a third country jail Taylor if he is convicted or take him in if acquitted.Denmark, Austria and Sweden had all rejected requests to jail Taylor, but Britain stepped forward last week to announce it would jail him if he were convicted.On Monday, the Sierra Leone tribunal formally authorised Taylor’s transfer.The Sierra Leone court added that extra money may have to be spent so Taylor’s trial will be accessible to Sierra Leoneans, who suffered at the hands of the brutal rebel movement Taylor is accused of backing and directing.The road to trial for Taylor began when he went into exile in Nigeria in August 2003 as part of a deal that helped end Liberia’s 14-year civil war.After the Nigerian government agreed in March to a request from Taylor’s successor as Liberia’s president to hand him over, he tried to slip away but was captured and flown to Sierra Leone.He has been in the Special Court’s detention facilities in the Sierra Leonean capital since March 29 and pleaded not guilty at an April 3 arraignment.- Nampa-AP