Residents divided over location of Taylor trial
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
FREETOWN-- Ever since former rebel leader and Liberian president Charles Taylor arrived in Freetown in handcuffs, Sierra Leoneans have debated with renewed vigour the merits and disadvantages of the Special Court and whether it should be in on their doorstep at all.
After Taylor's long-awaited arrest and his deportation to the Court in Sierra Leone last month, the ex Liberian leader will become the first former African president to face trial for war crimes before an international court.
Taylor's trial was to have taken place at the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, which has indicted him for war crimes in the country's 10-year civil war including responsibility for murder, rape, mutilation and enlisting child soldiers.
But in late March Court officials, citing regional concerns that Taylor is a potential security threat and that the trial could take many months and even years, requested that the trial be transferred to facilities at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
As the international community hammers out a way to transfer the trial, Sierra Leoneans are divided on the move.
"Taylor must be tried here so the people of this country can hear why he fought or allegedly collaborated with others to destabilise Sierra Leone," member of parliament Abu Kongba told his elected peers earlier this month.