The Hague - The chief prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), Stephen Rapp, told reporters Friday he has 144 witnesses lined up to testify in the trial against former Liberian president Charles Taylor. Rapp was speaking at a press conference in The Hague. On Monday, the trial against Taylor is due to resume after an adjournment of more than six months to allow the defence lawyers familiarize themselves with Taylor's case.
The first witness to be called to the stand is an expert on the trade in so-called "blood diamonds" in West-Africa.
For security reasons, the trial against the former Liberian president is taking place in the Netherlands, in the building of the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Taylor is the first president of an African country to be charged of serious crimes under international law by an international criminal court.
On July 3, the former president entered a plea of not guilty to charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with actions committed by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel group during the 11-year civil war in Sierra Leone that ended in 2002.
Taylor allegedly backed the rebel forces in Sierra Leone to gain control of the country's diamond mines. In 2003 he went into exile as rebels closed in on the Liberian capital.
