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GUEST: Elise Keppler, Senior Counsel at Human Rights Watch’s International Justice Program, just returned from The Hague

The war crimes trial of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor resumed last week after a six month delay. Taylor faces eleven counts of human rights abuses including acts of terrorism, murder, and rape committed during neighboring Sierra Leone’s civil war. Testimony from one of Taylor’s former army commanders linked the Liberian leader to the Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone which carried out numerous atrocities through the course of the war. Taylor’s defense attorney argued last Friday that the former army commander was mentally unstable due to the fact that his family had been murdered in Liberia by the president’s forces. The trial of Charles Taylor is the first instance of an African president to stand trial before an international court for war crimes under international law. The Special Court for Sierra Leone, which is trying Taylor, is a hybrid tribunal made up of Sierra Leonean and international judges. The trial, expected to last at least a year, is being held at The Hague due to security concerns with holding proceedings in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

For more information, visit www.hrw.org.