The Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague rejected a defense request on Monday to acquit former Liberian President Charles Taylor, whose defense team will present its case on June 29.
Taylor's defense filed an application in April asking the court to drop the charges against Taylor. Taylor's lawyer Courtenay Griffiths said the evidence presented by the prosecution is too weak to link Taylor to the crimes committed in Sierra Leone.
But the judges ruled against the motion, saying that chief prosecutor Stephen Rapp has proof that might lead to a conviction.
"The trial chamber finds that there is evidence on which it could find that the accused and others shared a common purpose to take part in a campaign to terrorize the civilian population of the Republic of Sierra Leone," judge Richard Lussick found.
Taylor, 61, faces 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 1991-2001 civil war in Sierra Leone. He has been on trial since June 2007.
Taylor, who was Liberian president from 1997 to 2003, allegedly orchestrated or supported the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in neighboring Sierra Leone in committing murder, rape, conscription of child soldiers and other atrocities.
He has pleaded not guilty to all 11 charges. Defense lawyer Griffiths said he had not helped the RUF rebels and he had tried to bring peace to Sierra Leone.
The rules of the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone permit the defense to make an appeal for acquittal once the prosecutors have finished presenting their evidence. The prosecutors ended their case in February.
Judge Lussick also dismissed a request by the defense on Monday for a postponement of the presentation of the defense case, setting June 29 as the opening date.
Source:Xinhua
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