{"id":300737,"date":"2011-03-11T09:40:29","date_gmt":"2011-03-11T09:40:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/03\/11\/taylors-war-crimes-trial-to-end\/"},"modified":"2011-03-11T09:40:29","modified_gmt":"2011-03-11T09:40:29","slug":"taylors-war-crimes-trial-to-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/11\/taylors-war-crimes-trial-to-end\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor’s war crimes trial to end"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n 11 March 2011<\/span>
\nLast updated at <\/span>04:40 ET<\/span>
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The final day of hearings at the war crimes trial of Liberia’s ex-President Charles Taylor has started.<\/p>\n

The prosecution counsel said Mr Taylor was an intelligent man who was hoping to fool the judges at the special UN Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague.<\/p>\n

The former Liberian leader’s defence lawyers said on Thursday that the trial was politically motivated.<\/p>\n

Mr Taylor denies 11 counts, including murder, rape and using child soldiers during the civil war in Sierra Leone.<\/p>\n

He is the first former African leader to face such an international tribunal.<\/p>\n

He is accused of arming and controlling the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels during a 10-year campaign of terror conducted largely against civilians.<\/p>\n

The RUF became infamous for hacking off the limbs of its victims, and using rape and murder to terrorise the population.<\/p>\n

‘Lavish’ funds<\/span><\/p>\n

On Friday morning, prosecution counsel Nicholas Koumjian said that Mr Taylor, 62, was an intelligent and charismatic person who could fool some of the people some of the time.<\/p>\n

He was counting now on fooling the judges at the war crimes court, he said.<\/p>\n

The prosecution statement is to be followed by defence rebuttals on the final day of hearings.<\/p>\n

\n\tContinue reading the main story<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n

Taylor Timeline<\/h2>\n

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