The prosecution's case against war crimes suspect Charles Taylor will be completed by January, Stephen Rapp, the prosecutor for the Special Court for Sierra Leone said on Thursday. Rapp said the strength of the evidence has exceeded his expectations.

Former Liberian President Charles Ghankay Taylor, who is on trial in The Hague instead of Freetown to avoid potential instability in West Africa, has pleaded innocent to charges involving murder, rape, conscripting child soldiers and sexual slavery during the war in Sierra Leone, in which more than 200,000 people were killed.

The trial against him is moving swiftly. "We have some hope before the end of the year, but certainly by the end of January [2009] we'll have concluded prosecution evidence," Rapp says.

Dramatic story
"We're presenting a lot of crime victim testimony, it's very dramatic testimony. Defence cross examination is actually fairly limited so the trial is moving forward very quickly," the prosecutor says. And Taylor is not using the court as a public platform for political speeches so there is no additional delay.

Rapp also said the strength of the evidence has exceeded his expectations. Some 50 witnesses appeared before the court in The Hague since January. With their stories he wants to prove that Taylor spread terror in Sierra Leone where he allegedly supported the rebels of Foday Sankoh's Revolutionary United Front (RUF).

The rebels are infamous for their brutal tactics of chopping off arms and legs of civilians. Between 4,000 and 10,000 Sierra Leoneans were disabled by the terror, according to the Sierra Leonean Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). These stories of terror are now resounding in the court. Witnesses told the judges that they saw people being beheaded, slaughtered or had their hands cut off.

Family ties
Meanwhile, proceedings started last week against Taylor's American son, Charles "Chuckie" Emmanuel, who is on trial in the United States under a 14-year-old US law allowing the prosecution of its citizens for acts of torture committed abroad. The unprecedented father and son trials are revealing the savagery of the conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Emmanuel is accused of taking part in murder and torture and Rapp said there are likely to be common witnesses to both Taylor's trial and that of his son. He said one witness who told the Hague court three months ago he was a Sierra Leone citizen tortured by Taylor's forces in Liberia will give testimony to the US court, while a Liberian journalist is also expected to give testimony after statements given to the Hague court.

Rapp, who welcomed the US trial, said, however, that the cases are not joint prosecutions, especially due to the fact the case against ‘Chuckie' mainly involves crimes in Liberia, not Sierra Leone. "But there is a relationship that we've submitted that Charles Taylor basically had a method of operation for being in power and of keeping power," Rapp said, adding that Taylor had used intimidation against the entire population. A ruling in the ‘Taylor Jr. case' is expected in two months.

Also Read: Charles Chuckie Taylor on torture trial in Miami
                 Charles Taylor trial resumes