- The trial of the former Liberian President, Charles Taylor, has been adjourned for last year, with the defence attorneys seeking to defer the trial until January next year.
Mr Taylor has been tried by the Special Court for Sierra Leone which has moved to The Hague, Netherlands.
August 20 has been scheduled for the trial to go into full business. But that will not be possible because the court is expected to retire into a “status conference” to determine the length of the delay.
The former leader’s new defence team filed a motion, applying for the trial to be postponed until 7 January to allow “adequate time and facilities for the preparation of [Taylor's] defence, as required by Article 17 of the Statute of the Special Court of Sierra Leone.”
The prosecution saw the motion as justifiable and therefore agreed with its content. But the court has the power to set a date next week.
Taylor is accused of committing crimes against humanity and war crimes, including mutilations, murder, sexual slavery, sexual violence, recruiting and using child soldiers, abduction and using forced labour during Sierra Leone‘s decade long civil war.
He pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
In June, Taylor boycotted the trial describing unfair.
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