The British supermodel Naomi Campbell must appear – on Thursday, as planned – before the judges in the war crimes trial of Charles Taylor in the Netherlands. A request for a postponement by Mr Taylor’s defence team was denied on Wednesday.

Mr Taylor’s lawyer, Courtenay Griffiths, had argued that the former president of Liberia would be denied a fair trial because there had been insufficient time to prepare for Ms Campbell’s cross-examination. He said the chief prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, Brenda Hollis, had not handed over a written statement of what Ms Campbell intended to say sixty days in advance, as stipulated by court procedure. (Ms Hollis said Ms Campbell refused to talk with her beforehand.)

The judges ruled that the absence of a written statement did not automatically mean the trial would be unfair, because new facts could emerge during questioning in court that were unexpected for all parties.

© Radio Netherlands Worldwide