Monday was one of my favorite days of Taylor’s testimony thus far. Nothing too newsworthy, just some fun facts that speak to the extravagance of his lifestyle. (Summary of Monday’s testimony here, trial transcript here.)
Taylor spoke about the $1 million he received from Taiwan for his 1997 presidential campaign. The money was for “public relations,” Taylor said. But lest you think there was some quid pro quo relationship here:
Taylor said he used some money for the campaign, some to set up the Charles Ghankay Taylor Educational and Humanitarian Foundation, some to purchase a house.
Responding to a question about his private presidential boat, Taylor said: “It was my property. It was a birthday gift given to me by a Greek shipping magnate.”
The Prosecution claims Taylor got financial support from Libya while in exile. Notably, Taylor claims his lifestyle was maintained in Calabar with support from the Nigerian government, and that the $50,000 he had when he was caught trying to flee was also from the Nigerians. Specifically, Taylor said Obasanjo had given him the money to start a poultry business. Seriously.
Shelby,
Welcome back ! I thought your first comments would be onhow the prosecution team stumbled out of the gates when the cross examination started of Mr. Taylor. Infact they have still not gotten their act together. I have said this before and will say it again. Brenda Hollis has never come across a witness as eloquent and convincing as Mr. Taylor. I would also like to know how bloggers feel about new evidence being able to be introduced by the prosecution once their case had been closed ? I am starting to see why the United States government refuses to let Americans be tried in international courts.
Aki
There is nothing unusual about allowing prosecutors to introduce evidence to demonstrate that a witness is lying. (Otherwise, the defendant would have no reason not to lie on the stand; you’ve got to be able to demonstrate that he’s lied and set the record straight.)
Had Taylor not taken the stand, the prosecutor would have had a much more difficult case.
Taylor, through his lies, has buried himself.
Judges don’t like to be lied to.
Law,
Yes you are right Judges don’t like being lied to. Where are the billions of dollars Stephen Rapp said Charles Taylor had ? Where are all the blood diamonds ? The judges are not going to send someone to prison for the rest of their lives based on hearsay and weak circumstantial evidence. Further when is this trial going to start being about Sierra Leone? One month on the witness stand and Taylor is still being asked about Liberia.
Thanks for all of these comments. Aki, I was going to write about the issue of new documents, but honestly I don’t know enough about the legality of presenting new evidence. It’s not clear to me whether this is common or not.
Aki, let me know if you’d like to do a guest post on this blog. Perhaps you could assess what you see as the principal weaknesses in the prosecution’s case thus far? I’m open to other ideas as well.
-Shelby
Shelby I will think about your suggestion and get back to you.