The defense case: Day 1

Today Charles Taylor’s lead lawyer, Courtenay Griffiths, outlined the defense’s case. Though the prosecution disagreed.

In an unusual move, prosecutor Stephen Rapp interjected during Griffiths’ opening statement. Rapp objected because the defense was commenting on the prosecution’s case rather than setting out the evidence his team will present. At the time, Griffiths was describing the breakdown of the prosecution’s linkage and crime-based witnesses. The judges overruled the objection. Griffiths called the interjection “rude.”

That is from the Trial of Charles Taylor blog summary of today’s proceedings. Tomorrow I’ll be up at 2AM to watch Taylor on live video begin his testimony. But for today I’m relying on the Taylor trial blog summary. Here are some highlights:

• Griffiths said Taylor was trying to broker peace in Sierra Leone, and that the West is using Taylor as a scapegoat. The trial’s political nature is demonstrated by the fact that the Court did not indict former Sierra Leonean President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah.
• Griffiths “infused his opening statement with a quote from Jamaican reggae singer Bob Marley and held up a sign to the public gallery that stated ‘Charles Taylor is innocent’ before the judges entered the courtroom[.]“
• Griffiths argued prosecution’s evidence that supposedly links Taylor to crimes committed is weak.
• Griffiths said as president Taylor was so consumed with fending off attacks on Liberia he couldn’t have been able to micromanage the war in Sierra Leone.