By Teddy Foday-Musa, at The Hague, Holland.
The International Criminal Court’s location at Maanweg 174 in The Hague, was on the 7th January 2008, the scene of another Taylor trial. Charles Dahkpannah Ghankay Taylor, who was dressed in a dark suit with a grey tie, was for the first time in court before the arrival of the trial judge. He looked not only healthy, but also very confident with members of his defence team surrounding him.
Mr. Taylor was frequently seen engaging members of his defence in a tete- á-tete, whispering close to their ears and often writing something on a piece of paper for their attention. That underscores his confidence in them.
Mr. Taylor’s body language was one that speaks volumes of how adequately the court registrar team has responded to his demand for a good defence team. His daughter Charen Taylor was also in attendance. Upon entering the court room at 8:58, Mr. Taylor was seen blowing kisses to his daughter who was seated in the press gallery. Charen, who had wanted to conceal her identity from journalists, responded to her father’s gestures with a quick flash and then comported herself. Yet the act did not go unnoticed by journalists.
This court session was dedicated to the prosecutor in order to present and cross-examine his first expert witness. Nick Konmjian, the prosecutor presented Mr. Ian Similles, as his first expert witness.
Mr Simillies claims to be an expert in the diamond industry with regards to diamonds from troubled regions in Africa. He was cross-examined by the prosecutor, all geared towards asserting that Mr. Similles was indeed a true expert in the diamond industry. Mr. Simillies carefully navigated his way around the questions thrown at him by the prosecutor. At the end of the day, he successfully established himself as an expert and an authority in the diamond industry, more so in Sierra Leone.
Therefore, it was no surprise when Terry Munyard the defence for Taylor set himself the task to undermine the credibility of Mr. Simillies. During the cross examination, all questions directed at Mr. Simillies by him had the tendency to disprove Mr. Simillies being an expert in the diamond industry.
The cross -examination became a tense interlude of give and take between the two men. It went on to 16:25 p.m. Trial Judge Sebutinde was then left with no option but to call for an end of the cross-examination. She then asked the defence to kindly hold on to his cross-examination at that point for an adjournment. She further advised Mr. Similles to refrain from making any comment about his cross-examination as he was yet to round up the exercise.
Court was adjourned to today 8th January, 9:00 am at the ICC building in The Hague.
Photo: Charles Taylor.
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