With Court Short of Funds, Charles Taylor May Go Free

(GIN) – The global financial crisis has caught up with the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, which has been prosecuting warlords from the region including former Liberian President Charles Taylor.

The U.N.-backed Court, pursuing those held most responsible for atrocities during the country’s 1991-2002 civil war, faces a budget shortfall of more than $5 million from May, officials said.

“With the economic crisis continuing, to get funds is not easy ... If we run out, it is now possible the judges will have to release him. That’s our real anxiety,’’ Chief Prosecutor Stephen Rapp told Reuters in a phone interview last week.

Taylor is being tried on 11 counts of crimes against humanity and other charges including rape, enslavement and conscripting child soldiers younger than 15. He has denied the charges.

Among the Special Court’s accomplishments is making the recruitment of child soldiers, forced marriage and acts of terrorism against civilians a crime under international humanitarian law.


Story posted: 3/10/2009

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