Friday October 31, 2003 11:46 PM
By CLARENCE ROY-MACAULEY
Associated Press Writer
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) - The defense for exiled former Liberian leader Charles Taylor called for his war crimes charges to be thrown out Friday, saying the U.N. tribunal lacked authority to indict him.
Taylor, who wasn't in court and doesn't plan to appear, was charged in June with supporting a brutal rebel movement in Sierra Leone. Taylor has lived in exile in Nigeria since stepping down as Liberia's president in August.
His court-appointed lawyer, Terrence Terry, argued that Taylor's position as president gave him immunity. He also said the court in Sierra Leone has no jurisdiction over Taylor, a Liberian.
Keen observers of the Liberian Civil War and its associated conflicts in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Ivory Coast note a continuing theme here.
A recurring belief amongst the largely uneducated and often underage armies recruited by Taylor and his allies, puppets and foes was that certain magical totems or spells could provide physical protection against gunfire and other hazards of battle. These believes often persisted despite the widespread evidence that bullets, in fact, can not be stopped either by magical spells or by the wearing of looted women's clothing into battle.
This category of beliefs was not limited to ordinary foot soldiers. Officials as high as former President Doe - ironically, a former master sergeant - were said to owe their standing to magical influence, a belief encouraged by Doe as a way to buttress his pre-war power. These beliefs availed him little after his capture by rebel leader and homicidal maniac Prince Johnson. Johnson strapped Doe to a chair and … well, let's just say he decisively disproved the theory that Doe enjoyed any magical protection.
Charles Taylor in his turn apparently believes he has devised a magical totem or charm to protect him from the effects of the UN war crimes tribunal, that totem being the claim of "lack of jurisdiction." Long-time observers of the conflicts ignited by Taylor and his megalomaniacal quest for power are united in hoping that this charm proves every bit as useful and as efficacious as the others worn by his followers and foes. If, on the other hand, the charm of "immunity" does protect Taylor, Muskrat News suggests that Prince Johnson is still living in Nigeria.
Remember, Kids, the part in bold is actual 100% news-flavored media product.
The rest is the fakey part.
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