Taylor is not war criminal, needs cash, lawyer says

Alphonso Toweh
Reuters AlertNet, UK
___________
Monrovia (Liberia):
Former Liberian president Charles Taylor will plead not guilty to war crimes charges this week but the ex-warlord needs donations from "goodwilled people" to pay for his defence, his lawyer said on Saturday.
Taylor, whose name became synonymous with a decade of brutal conflict in West Africa, is behind bars at a U.N.-backed court in Sierra Leone facing 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity during that country's 1991-2002 civil war.The charismatic 58-year-old Taylor is widely believed to have amassed a multi-million dollar fortune by exerting a tight control over Liberia's gold, iron ore and rubber.
His rambling Monrovia mansion remains boarded up.Africa's most notorious war-crimes suspect is due to make his first court appearance on Monday, when he will be asked to plead guilty or not guilty.The court in Freetown has asked the Netherlands to host his trial in The Hague, citing fears that keeping him in Sierra Leone could provoke unrest there and in neighbouring Liberia.
Apr 01, 2006