A defence lawyer for former Liberian president Charles Taylor said today there was no evidence he planned and instigated atrocities in Sierra Leone and asked a war crimes court to acquit him of all charges.
Taylor (61) on trial at the Hague-based Special Court for Sierra Leone, has pleaded not guilty to 11 counts including murder, rape, conscripting child soldiers and sexual slavery during the 1996-2002 civil war in the West African nation.
"The problem with this case since its inception has been the linkage evidence - the quality or the lack thereof linking Mr Taylor to the alleged offences," defence lawyer Morris Anyah told a three-judge panel.
More than 250,000 people died in intertwined wars in Sierra Leone and neighbouring Liberia marked by brutal attacks on civilians, drug-crazed child soldiers and amputations of limbs.
Taylor's defence said it did not deny terrible crimes took place in Sierra Leone or that citizens there faced "atrocities of unimaginable proportions" and pointed to the double amputees and rape victims who gave evidence as prosecution witnesses.
"We do not dispute most of this," Mr Anyah said. But he said there was no evidence linking Taylor to the planning, instigation, execution or aiding and abetting of those crimes.
Taylor, the first former African head of state to stand trial before any court, appeared at the hearing dressed in a dark pinstriped suit and grey tie.
On trial in The Hague since June 2007 at facilities provided by the International Criminal Court (ICC), Taylor is accused of trying to control Sierra Leone's diamond mines and destabilise its government to boost his regional influence.
Prosecutors argue he directed the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in a campaign of terror against civilians.
The Sierra Leone court was set up to try those with the greatest responsibility for war crimes there. Unlike other defendants, Taylor is being tried in The Hague and not in the Sierra Leone capital Freetown to avoid local unrest.
The prosecution, which closed its case against Taylor on February 27th after 91 witnesses were presented, will be allowed to reply to the defence's request for acquittal on Thursday.
Judges could rule on the defence's motion for acquittal within several days after that.
Reuters