Charles Taylor has been working to broker peace in Sierra Leone. With these words Lead Defence Counsel Courtney Griffiths took a firm stand today at the Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague. Griffith criticised the "revenge seeking' attitude of the prosecutors who charge Taylor with amongst others murder, rape and conscripting child soldiers in the West-African country.

Taylor sat behind him, his eyes hidden behind his trademark tinted glasses. Immaculately dressed in a sharp grey suit and crisp white shirt, he remained impassive during the almost two-hour long statement.
 
Although the purpose of the opening statement is to outline the case for the defence, Griffiths said little about the 90 odd witnesses who are expected to testify alongside Taylor, focusing instead on criticism of the prosecution's case. 
 
Referring to the many revisions the initial indictment has undergone, Griffiths said it was an "ill-conceived, revenge seeking... lucky dip of a prosecution" and was "riddled with hypocrisy and untruth".
 
Chief Prosecutor Stephen Rapp dismissed the claim as a "mischaracterization". He also criticised his opponent for "playing the race card" after Griffiths made several allusions to the "neo-colonial nature" of the court.
Griffiths compared Mr. Taylor's extradition "in chains" from Liberia to The Hague to the journey made by slaves back when Holland was a colonial power.
 
The trial will resume tomorrow when Mr. Taylor will take the stand in his own defence. His testimony is expected to last for at least 6 weeks.
 
Taylor has been held by the court since 2006, charged with 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
 
Charles Taylor was arrested after his period of enforced exile in Nigeria in 2006. His trial was moved to The Hague for fear that his appearance in an African courtroom could again foment violence in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

He is being tried at the Hague premises of the International Criminal Court (ICC) but his trial is conducted by the UN-backed Sierra Leone Tribunal in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown.