Charles Taylor Trial
Weekly Report on Taylor Trial Summary for the Week of June 30 – July 4, 2008
By SLCMP
Jul 10, 2008 - 3:44:36 PM

This week, Trial Chamber II of the Special Court only held sessions on Wednesday 2 July and Friday 4 July, 2008, due to a Dutch holiday and the 10^th   On Wednesday, Prosecution Counsel Brenda Hollis called the next Prosecution witness, protected witness TF1-567.   The witness testified under a pseudonym in Krio, with image and voice distortion.   Part of the testimony was held in private sessions in order to protect the identity of the witness. During the afternoon session, the Principal Defender, Elizabeth Nahamya, made her first appearance sitting in on the Taylor trial. Anniversary of the International Criminal Court.

During direct examination, the witness testified that in May 1991 he was in Pendembu Town when captured by rebels who spoke Liberian English and taken to the Pendembu vocational secondary school compound to undergo training.   Charles Timber, an NPFL, was the training commander at the base.   After graduating, the witness served as a bodyguard to Foday Sankoh at Mansion Ground in Pendembu Town.   The witness testified that at this time the RUF was commanded by the NPFL commander General Samuel G Tuah, and that NPFL commanders controlled the front lines. The witness also testified that while he was at Mansion Ground the radio operator there was a Liberian called CO Nya, a.k.a. Foday Lansana.   Lansana was part of the NPFL, but then joined the RUF and came to Sierra Leone as a radio operator.

In 1992, Sankoh’s bodyguards, including the witness, were renamed the ‘Black Guard.’   The witness testified that he was a bodyguard for Sankoh until the time Sankoh was indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone. The duty of the Black Guards was to ‘guard the revolution,’ particularly to go to the front lines and ‘sensitize’ the soldiers so that no raping, looting or burning of houses would occur.   The Black Guards would also send written reports and radio communications back to Sankoh about what was happening on the front lines.   The witness indicated that raping, looting and burning would still occur and that he reported these events to Sankoh.   Sometimes action would be taken and sometimes it would not.

The witness testified that he traveled with Sankoh as his bodyguard to Gbarnga, Liberia once in 1991 and once in 1992.   Sankoh told him that they were going to go visit ‘his brother,’ Charles Taylor.   He would collect arms and ammunition and then return to Sierra Leone.   However, the witness testified that ULIMO blocked the border to Liberia from 1993-1998, during which time access between the RUF and Charles Taylor was cut off.   There was still radio communication between Taylor’s radio operator, Butterfly, and the RUF, however, and the witness was personally present for some of these communications (from 1994-1996).   The witness indicated that Sankoh would inform Taylor of the prevailing conditions in RUF-controlled areas.   Sankoh also told Taylor that the RUF were ‘suffering’ because they were not receiving support from him.   Taylor replied, through his radio operator, that “things happen that way because that is guerilla warfare.”

The witness then described how Sankoh opened the Zogoda base in early 1994. After this, the witness moved with Dennis Mingo, a.k.a. Superman and Mohamed Tarawalli, a.k.a. Zino, into the ‘Western Area’ until 1997.   In 1996, they received a communication from Sankoh that he was going to the Abidjan Peace Accord.   Sankoh briefly returned to Sierra Leone to ask the RUF soldiers their view on signing the Peace Accord.   Sankoh also sent a message that the RUF was to join with the AFRC when they took over Freetown in 1997.

The witness next testified about visiting Bockarie in Kenema in late 1997, while the witness was based in Tongo Field, where he saw Daniel Tamba, a.k.a. Jungle, whom he had first met in 1992. Jungle told the witness that Charles Taylor had sent him to warn Mosquito not to get too involved with the AFRC government.  The witness remained in Tongo Field until the junta pushed them out of Freetown and Tongo.   Not long after, Mosquito started Operation Pay Yourself, which the witness described as involving soldiers looting vehicles and civilian property.   The witness was then stationed in Balahun until September 1998, but would often visit Buedu.   On one visit to Buedu, the witness met Jungle, who informed him that Taylor had sent him to take Mosquito back to Monrovia.  When Bockarie returned from Liberia, he indicated Taylor had told him that both Mosquito and Sankoh were his revolutionary brothers, and that Taylor was happy with Mosquito’s activities during Sankoh’s absence.   Bockarie also allegedly became angry with Issa Sesay for not waiting for Bockarie to return to Sierra Leone before taking away Johnny Paul Koroma’s wife and diamonds.   Sesay then gave the diamonds to Mosquito, who indicated he would take them to Taylor for safekeeping until Sankoh returned from prison.

The witness testified to seeing Liberians, such as Jungle, ZigZag Marzah, and Sampson in Buedu on a couple of different occasions, usually bringing arms and ammunition and food from Charles Taylor to Buedu.   To the witness’s knowledge, while he was based in Balahun, Bockarie visited Liberia three times with Jungle or Varmuya Sherif.

After September 1998, Mosquito sent the witness to Superman Ground to join Issa Sesay, where he kept records of the missions.  In October 1998 Bockarie went to Liberia again and returned with arms and ammunition, which he gave to Issa Sesay.   Bockarie instructed them that Taylor had said to try and recapture Kono and other diamond mining areas.   The RUF then attacked Koidu Town, and captured some arms and ammunition, and some Nigerian ECOMOG soldiers.   Issa Sesay sent all of the ECOMOG soldiers to Bockarie in Buedu.   The witness also described a radio communication with Benjamin Yeaten’s radio operator in Monrovia informing Yeaten that the RUF had captured Koidu Town.  

The witness testified at length about RUF diamond mining operations, describing the records that were kept of the diamonds found.   The Prosecution showed the witness a document titled: “Class: Black Guard”; “Subject: Record Book,” allegedly kept by a Black Guard named Joseph Bankundu.   The Defense objected to entering this document into evidence since parts were illegible or cut off, and requested the original document.   The Prosecution indicated it did not have the original, since it was returned to the Sierra Leone government, but that they would attempt to procure it again.  

The witness testified about traveling to the Lome peace talks, and also about Foday Sankoh traveling to Monrovia in 1999 and meeting with Charles Taylor and Johnny Paul Koroma in the Executive Mansion.   The Court went into private session for the remainder of the day to question the witness about two unique positions he held that speak to his identity.