Liberia’s Taylor appears at his trial

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor appeared in court Tuesday for the first time since the start of his trial for atrocities committed during Sierra Leone’s bloody decade-long civil war.

Wearing a blue suit and yellow tie, Taylor appeared 20 minutes late at a procedural hearing during which judges for the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone explained why they agreed to postpone hearing the first prosecution witnesses until Aug. 20.

Taylor has pleaded not guilty to 11 charges that he controlled and armed rebels who killed, raped, mutilated and enslaved civilians during Sierra Leone’s civil war, which ended in 2002.

The trial got underway June 4 for just one day and sat for a second day later in the month, but Taylor boycotted both sessions after firing his court-funded attorney and complaining that he was not getting a fair trial.

First prosecution witnesses were due to be heard Tuesday, but prosecutors and a court official responsible for ensuring that Taylor gets a fair trial filed a motion last week asking for the witness testimony to be delayed until August to allow preparation time for Taylor’s new defense team, which has not yet been appointed.

Explaining the decision to grant the postponement, presiding judge Julia Sebutinde of Uganda blamed officials in the court’s registry for not appointing new defense attorneys in time for the trial to start.

Taylor announced that he had fired his attorney in a letter to the three-judge panel on the first day of hearings and demanded a more senior trial attorney, arguing that prosecutors had far more lawyers on their team.

Prosecutors say they will call dozens of witnesses who will link Taylor to Sierra Leone rebels.

The prosecutors contend that the Liberian leader shipped rebels arms, ammunition and supplies such as alcohol and drugs used to desensitize children forced to fight. In return he got diamonds, they say, many of them mined by slave laborers.