The prosecution has presented its 91st and final witness in the United Nations-backed trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor on 11 criminal counts related to the civil war in Sierra Leone, according to a UN press release Monday.

"I am in awe of their courage and grateful for their willingness to travel thousands of miles to bear witness," the chief prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), Stephen Rapp, told a news conference in New York.

Rapp said the harrowing case of the 91st witness, a father who had his hands chopped off by rebels linked to Taylor in order to save his four-year-old son, has fully demonstrated the stark contrast between the victims and the accused.

Taylor has pleaded not guilty to the 11 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and other violations of international humanitarian law. He is expected to testify in his own defense, according to his lawyers.

None of the charges relate to atrocities Taylor is alleged to have committed in Liberia, but to his aid to two Sierra Leonean rebel groups during the civil war from 1996 to 2002.

Rapp said he expected the defense to start after Easter in April, after possible procedural defense motions to dismiss the case, and to last four to six months. All evidence and arguments would be concluded this year, he said.

If Taylor is found guilty, sentencing should follow three to four weeks after that. An appeal could then take up to six months and the whole process should be concluded by the end of 2010.

The SCSL, established in January 2002 by an agreement between Sierra Leone's government and the UN, cannot impose a life sentence, but it has already sentenced two defendants in another case to 50 years in jail.

In 2006, the UN Security Council authorized Taylor's trial to be held in The Hague, Netherlands, instead of its usual venue in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, citing security reasons.

Source:Xinhua