Charles Taylor Trial
Weekly Report on Taylor Trial: Summary for the Week of June 16 – June 20, 2008
By SLCMP
Jun 23, 2008 - 4:23:40 PM

Continued Direct and Cross-Examination of Protected Prosecution Witness TF1-590

Prosecution Counsel Bangura continued the direct examination of protected witness TF1-590 this week.   The witness is a Sierra Leoneon who was living in Liberia from 1998-1999.   Last week he had testified about being captured by Chucky Taylor (Charles Taylor, Jr.) and the Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATU) in 1999.   After a couple of escape attempts he was brought to Monrovia at Charles Taylor’s request. Taylor allegedly told the witness that if he refused to tell the truth about who he was, he would be beheaded. The Liberian defense minister, Daniel Chea, allegedly said that the witness should not be killed because he could provide information.   The witness then testified to being taken to Barclay Training Centre (BTC) and kept in a cell for two weeks.   Other prisoners complained about the witness ‘rotting’ so he was taken to a hospital and later released.

Defense Counsel Courtenay Griffiths began the cross-examination by clarifying that all of the atrocities the witness described – the beatings and torture – took place in Liberia, and not within Sierra Leone.   The jurisdiction of the Special Court for Sierra Leone only covers crimes occurring within Sierra Leone after 30 November 1996.   The Defense then spent a considerable period of time questioning the witness about his role in the American trial of Chucky Taylor in Florida, and his confused memory of meetings with the Assistant US Attorneys (AUSAs). The Defense attempted to elicit whether there was any contact or cooperation between the Prosecution for the Special Court and the AUSAs.   Mr. Griffiths accused the witness of lying that he had never mentioned to the Special Court Prosecution that he was giving evidence to the AUSAs for Chucky Taylor’s trial.   He then asked the witness if he would object to showing the Defense the signed statements he gave to the AUSAs, implying that his objection indicated he had something to hide and that there were differences in those statements given and his testimony before the Special Court.   The Defense also implied that the witness was at the Special Court to ‘practice’ providing evidence in preparation for testifying in the American trial against Chucky Taylor.

The Defense then turned to the witness’s testimony concerning his time in Kenema before 1998.   He admitted that he had lived under RUF rule for over one year and was never forced to mine and never experienced any intervention with his own rice and diamond mining business.   The witness also admitted that he had only heard about, and never saw, civilians forced to engage in diamond mining.

After the lunch break on Monday, the Court apparently received an e-mail indicating that there were some individual(s) outside of the Court who were aware of the witness’s identity.   The Court briefly held a closed session and then returned to open session.   The Defense continued to question the witness about when he fled Sierra Leone for Liberia in 1998.   In particular, Mr. Griffiths pushed the witness on how he was singled out for imprisonment and torture by Chucky Taylor, implying that the witness was hiding something about why he was arrested and detained.   He also implied that the witness was lying about being brought to Charles Taylor’s mansion in Monrovia, indicating that the witness should have remembered the fountain in the front yard if he was really taken there. Regarding the Arab men the witness claimed were Charles Taylor’s diamond dealers, Mr. Griffiths asked why the witness had not mentioned this in earlier meetings with the Prosecution. As with other witnesses, the Defense concluded by questioning the witness about payments received from the Office of the Prosecutor.

Direct and Cross-Examination of Prosecution Witness TF1-584, Alice Pyne a.k.a. Apple of Action

On Tuesday, Prosecution Counsel Christopher Santora began direct examination of Prosecution Witness TF1-584, Alice Pyne, a.k.a. Apple of Action, who testified in Krio.   The witness was a radio operator under RUF Commander Mohamed.   She testified that in 1991 she was captured by Liberian NPFL soldiers and taken to a training base in Dia.   She recalled seeing both small boys and small girls units who were not taken to the frontline but were distributed among the RUF commanders and Special Forces (part of the NPFL) in Kailahun.   In 1994, CO Mohamed recommended her for signaler training.   She was trained by Foday Lansana, a.k.a. CO Nyaa, who was later her bush husband from 1994 to 2000.   When asked whether this was a consensual marriage, she answered ‘yes.’

In early 1996 she was assigned to monitor communications of the Sierra Leone Army for Foday Sankoh. She testified that she once connected Sankoh via radio with Sierra Leonean President Maada Bio, who spoke about the fighting that was going on. She claimed to have overheard their conversation, and that they agreed to call for a ceasefire.   When the RUF heard that people wanted elections before peace, Sankoh reportedly sent an instruction for the RUF to stop the election and to “cause panic” where elections were being held.   The witness indicated that Sankoh was in the Ivory Coast when he issued this instruction.

During the AFRC period the witness was in Ngaya, where she worked at an SLA radio station receiving or sending messages for the RUF.  While in Ngaya, she testified to seeing a number of other commanders, including Issa Sesay, Sam Bockarie, Five Five and Gullit, who she said were traveling between Freetown and Kono, where they had civilians mining for them.

When ECOMOG forced the RUF and AFRC out of Freetown, the witness went to Makeni and then Koidu Town with Lansana to join up with the RUF/AFRC forces who had left Freetown. She testified to witnessing the nature of Operation Pay Yourself and the taking and looting of civilian property by force.

In March 1998, the witness went to PC Ground, a village along the Guinean Highway.   There she worked as a radio operator for Superman.   When asked if she ever heard any communications outside of Sierra Leone, she testified to hearing Liberians calling Buedu where Sam Bockarie was located, though she only heard them saying to get on another, satellite phone frequency.   According to the witness, only the Buedu station had permission to speak with the Liberian stations.

When asked about PC Ground’s source of supplies, the witness testified that one source was attacks on towns, and that twice they had received supplies, both arms and ammunition and food, from Buedu.   These supplies were allegedly sent by Sam Bockarie, who was in charge of the RUF in Sierra Leone at the time. The witness also testified about the treatment of civilians during her time at PC Ground.   She stated that when the RUF would attack towns they would capture civilians and bring them to training camps.   RUF soldiers would choose some of the captured women civilians to be their wives, without the women’s consent. She also testified to hearing about the killing of civilians during attacks by the RUF on Koidu, Ngaya and Bumpeh, and the use of the phrase “to remove their hands and feet from the war.”

The witness then testified about a meeting in Buedu.   She had gone to Buedu with Superman, but did not personally attend the meeting in question.   Mosquito (a.k.a. Sam Bockarie) had called the meeting after Issa Sesay had lost diamonds he had allegedly taken to Liberia to exchange for arms and ammunition from Taylor. Bockarie called a meeting of all frontline commanders to ask Sesay what had happened to the diamonds. After the meeting, Bockarie allegedly left for Foya and later returned to Buedu with Liberian Colonel Jungle as well as some supplies (arms and ammunition and alcohol).

The witness recounted how she arrived in Koinadugu in August 1998, where there were various RUF and SLA forces and units stationed, including the Red Lion Battalion.   The Red Lion Battalion was reportedly formed by Superman to go and join the SLAs that were cut off at Rosos.   After about a month, the witness went to a village called ‘Pumkin Ground’ with Superman, Lansana, Tall Bai Bureh, General Bopleh, and other commanders.   They then attacked and captured Makeni in December 1998.  

The witness testified about the capture of Freetown in January 1999 and the radio messages she heard relating to this capture: that Bockarie told Gullit in Freetown that if ECOMOG forced them out of Freetown they should ‘burn the place’ and not spare anything. After the capture, Bockarie sent a message to Superman, with whom the witness was stationed in Lunsar, and RUF Rambo who was in Makeni, to join the men who had captured Freetown.   RUF Rambo arrived in Lunsar with ammunition and they then left for Freetown. They were stopped at Hastings because ECOMOG troops were blocking the route. They sent a message to Bockarie, who ordered Superman to stay put near Hastings to ensure a safe route for those coming from Freetown.

On cross-examination Defense Counsel Morris Anya began by pushing the witness on why she had remained with the RUF when Sam Bockarie had allegedly killed her child and threatened to kill her husband. He also expressed doubt that Charles Taylor, the President of Liberia, would send juju medicine men to the RUF, and asked the witness why in March 2008 she had instead told the OTP that Sam Bockarie had hired the juju men.   Mr. Anya then reviewed a number of inconsistencies between the witness’s prior statements to the Prosecution and her testimony in Court. The witness also admitted that she only heard a rumor that Issa Sesay was in Liberia when he allegedly lost some diamonds, she had never seen any diamonds herself, and she had no knowledge that diamonds were taken to Charles Taylor.

The Defense also compared her testimony to testimony given by prior witnesses, in particular concerning the composition and commanders of the Red Lion Battalion.   The witness disagreed with a number of the other witness’s statements concerning the Red Lion Battalion.   Cross-examination will resume on Monday morning.