Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission has written a nine-paragraph letter to the Registrar of the Special Court for Sierra Leone requesting access to interview the detained former Liberian President, Charles Taylor, who is in custody in The Hague for crimes he allegedly committed during Sierra Leon’s civil war in the 1990s. The Court has sent a copy of the letter to Mr. Taylor’s Defence team but the defence is not happy about the request.
Jamaican-born Courtney Griffiths(photo) is Taylor’s Lead Defence counsel. In The Hague, Mariama Khai Fornah caught up with him and began by asking him what he made of the letter.
GRIFFITHS: Well, the chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Liberia has written to the Special Court for Sierra Leone seeking permission to speak to Mr. Taylor in order for them to interview him and provide testimony before the TRC. I actually think this letter is an absolute disgrace, because given the fact that the Liberian government handed Mr. Taylor over to a foreign court in a foreign country, and for them now to be going cap in hand to beg that court to speak to their own citizen I find totally outrageous.
FORNAH: Why do you say it’s a disgrace?
GRIFFITHS: Well, it’s a disgrace because had they wanted testimony from Mr. Taylor, why did they hand him over three years ago to a foreign country? And why is it that he’s been languishing in prison for almost three years without a visit from any member of the Liberian government or a Liberian ambassador or representative. And then all of a sudden out of the blue they want to speak to him. I think that’s a disgrace.
FORNAH: But Mr. Charles Taylor is in custody. Do you think the Liberian government will have access to him if they go to visit him or say anything to him?
GRIFFITHS: Well, not if I have anything to do with it, because there is no way I will allow anyone to speak to my client prior to my client giving evidence in these proceedings.
FORNAH: But then you’re saying it’s a disgrace that the Liberian government has handed over Mr. Taylor to a foreign land. Why then are you so curious about that?
GRIFFITHS: Well, I think it’s disgraceful because were they truly interested in Mr. Taylor’s views, they could have kept him in Liberia and questioned him there, but they didn’t. They handed him over post-haste to the Special Court for Sierra Leone, established by treaty between the Sierra Leonean government and the United Nations, a body in which the Liberian government has no say whatsoever. And now they turn round almost three years later, “Oh, former president, we’d like to speak to you.” Perhaps they ought to have thought about that three years ago when they handed him over.
FORNAH: From what I read from the letter addressed to the Registrar of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, under No. 4 of that letter it says “the request is made from the simple reason that former President Charles Taylor, apart from being President of Liberia during the period [that meaning the period between 1997 to 2003] Charles Taylor was a very key player in the conflict as head of the NPFL which launched its incursion on the Territory of Liberia on December 24, 1989.” With this background, don’t you think your client, Mr. Taylor, should be answerable to the TRC, Mr. Griffiths?
GRIFFITHS: Well, if they’d thought about that, they could have questioned the former president - and remember, he was the sovereign head of that country during the relevant period that they want to ask him about. Now, anyone should have known that he would have important views and important evidence and testament to give on issues during that period. So why then hand him over to another government? And then three years later you’re on your knees begging that foreign court to have an opportunity to speak to your own citizen. I think it’s outrageous.
FORNAH: Mr. Griffiths, why are you afraid to allow Mr. Taylor to speak to the TRC when in the actual sense the TRC’s not a criminal investigating agency. They only seek to get the truth from Mr. Taylor and make recommendations at the end of the whole process?
GRIFFITHS: If they want to know what Mr. Taylor has to say about that critical period in Liberian history, then what I suggest they do is they invest in the technology to set up some big screens around Liberia so that the citizens of Liberia can watch this trial, so that when Mr. Taylor gives evidence as he will do, all of Liberia can sit down and watch it in comfort. That’s what they ought to do if they truly want to hear his views. They handed him over to this Court, so let them wait until he’s giving evidence before this Court to judge what he has to say about that critical period in their history.
FORNAH: But you yourself have told us in this interview that Liberia is not part of the Special Court. Where do you think they can get the funding to set up these screens all over Liberia for the people of Liberia to see what is happening here in The Hague?
GRIFFITHS: Well, they should find the funding. Perhaps they ought to go to their American and British supporters and ask them for the money, because remember, it’s those foreign countries who are busy funding the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and it’s supposed to be done in order to promote the rule of law in West Africa, because of course West Africans don’t understand what the law is. They have to be taught it by these foreigners. So consequently, as part of the “enlightening process” let the Americans and the British put their hands in their pockets and help out the Liberian people so they can see justice being done.
FORNAH: Is this not a disrespect to say Africans don’t know the rule of law?
GRIFFITHS: Well, that’s precisely what the statute setting up the Special Court for Sierra Leone says. It says they’re here to promote the rule of law as if we don’t know as black people what the rule of law is. That’s what they claim to be doing.
FORNAH: Mr. Griffiths, has Mr. Taylor read the letter sent to the Registrar of the Special Court concerning the TRC?
GRIFFITHS: Yes, he has. Yes he has, and we’ve discussed it, and his response was as abrupt as mine: No!
FORNAH: Are you speaking for Mr. Taylor or Mr. Taylor speaking for himself?
GRIFFITHS: I’m his lead counsel. I’m speaking for Mr. Taylor. The answer is no.
FORNAH: So if Mr. Taylor failed to go for this interview, don’t you think it would (have) some effect on him?
GRIFFITHS: No, I don’t. It will have no effect whatsoever, because at the end of the day what is happening in terms of the TRC in Liberia at one level is a total irrelevance, because remember, Mr. Taylor is not on trial for anything he did in Liberia. He’s on trial for what he’s supposed to have done in Sierra Leone. Had the Liberian government any interest in what he had to say about that critical period in their history, they should have kept him on his own soil where he was born so he could speak out to his own people in that forum. End of story.
Courtesy: BBC World Service Trust.
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