Taylor lawyers to argue war crimes court has no jurisdiction

Infamous warlord, accused blood diamond merchant and former Liberian President Charles Taylor will be in the dock today before a war crimes tribunal bent on sending a powerful message to the world’s despots that no one is above the law.

Security is tight at the Special Court in Sierra Leone, the country to which Taylor is accused of exporting his own civil war.

Court officials who have received death threats and the first former African president to be charged with crimes against humanity will be protected by bullet-proof glass and dozens of UN peacekeepers from Mongolia and the Republic of Ireland.

Taylor, who has repeatedly declared he is innocent, will be asked to plead to 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Taylor is to be judged by a UN-backed tribunal established to try those seen as bearing greatest responsibility for atrocities during Sierra Leone’s civil war.

Court officials said this morning that the Liberian and Ghanaian lawyers brought by Taylor’s family would be allowed to see him before his court appearance.