Case No. SCSL-2003-01-T the PROSECUTOR of the SPECIAL
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Case No. SCSL-2003-01-T THE PROSECUTOR OF THE SPECIAL COURT V. CHARLES GHANKAY TAYLOR THURSDAY, 15 MAY 2008 9.30 A.M. TRIAL TRIAL CHAMBER II Before the Judges: Justice Teresa Doherty, Presiding Justice Richard Lussick Justice Julia Sebutinde Justice Al Hadji Malick Sow, Alternate For Chambers: Mr William Romans Ms Carolyn Buff For the Registry: Ms Rosette Muzigo-Morrison Ms Rachel Irura For the Prosecution: Mr Stephen Rapp Ms Brenda J Hollis Ms Maja Dimitrova For the accused Charles Ghankay Mr Courtenay Griffiths QC Taylor: Mr Terry Munyard Mr Morris Anyah CHARLES TAYLOR Page 9891 15 MAY 2008 OPEN SESSION 1 Thursday, 15 May 2008 2 [Open session] 3 [The accused present] 4 [Upon commencing at 9.30 a.m.] 09:32:32 5 PRESIDING JUDGE: Good morning. Appearances are as before, 6 I think, Mr Rapp. 7 MR RAPP: That is correct, your Honour. 8 PRESIDING JUDGE: And, Mr Griffiths, I think on your Bar 9 also. 09:32:46 10 MR GRIFFITHS: Good morning, your Honours, counsel 11 opposite. Representation is the same as it was yesterday: 12 Myself, Courtney Griffiths, my learned friend Mr Munyard and 13 Mr Anyah and Ms Logan Hambrick. 14 PRESIDING JUDGE: Thank you. If there are no other matters 09:33:01 15 I will remind the witness of his oath. 16 Mr Witness, good morning. I must remind you that yesterday 17 you took the oath to tell the truth. The oath is still binding 18 on you and you are to answer questions truthfully. 19 THE WITNESS: Your Honours. 09:33:21 20 PRESIDING JUDGE: I would also request that because 21 everything you say is typed as you speak if you could speak a 22 little slowly so the interpreters and the transcribers can take 23 it and into the microphone, please. 24 THE WITNESS: Yes, your Honours. 09:33:36 25 PRESIDING JUDGE: Please proceed. 26 MR RAPP: Madam President, your Honours 27 WITNESS: MOSES ZEH BLAH [On former oath] 28 EXAMINATION-IN-CHIEF BY MR RAPP [Continued]: 29 Q. Good morning, witness. SCSL - TRIAL CHAMBER II CHARLES TAYLOR Page 9892 15 MAY 2008 OPEN SESSION 1 A. Yes, good morning, sir. 2 Q. I will go back to where we were yesterday. We were, I 3 think, on that flight from Burkina Faso to Liberia and there was 4 mention of a sheep that you had obtained. Why had you obtained a 09:34:00 5 sheep? 6 A. Because it was cheaper and it was a different kind of 7 animal to be carried to Liberia. We did not have that type in 8 Liberia. 9 Q. What gender, what sex was the sheep? 09:34:17 10 A. Well, it was a ram, a ram. 11 Q. Why did you need a sheep? 12 A. Well, I had a farm in my village and I rear animals there 13 like cows, goats and sheep, so I wanted that kind of sheep to be 14 carried there. 09:34:36 15 Q. During the time you were ambassador during Taylor's 16 presidency did you continue with your farm during that period? 17 A. Yes, my farm is still there as I speak. 18 JUDGE SEBUTINDE: Mr Rapp, you are going too fast. If you 19 look at the record you are overlapping. Just give it a little 09:34:54 20 break before the witness finishes his answer. 21 MR RAPP: 22 Q. Witness, I was asking what do you do with the farm now? 23 A. My farm is now in operation and there are people working on 24 the farm. 09:35:12 25 Q. Do you do anything with the farm? 26 A. Yes, my farm is there and I work on the farm. I'm raising 27 the animals. I have cows and they are grown and sometimes they 28 are sold and sometimes they are killed and then I eat myself. 29 Q. Now, on this trip in Burkina Faso, yesterday you told us SCSL - TRIAL CHAMBER II CHARLES TAYLOR Page 9893 15 MAY 2008 OPEN SESSION 1 what President Compaore of Burkina Faso had told you and Mr Tuah. 2 A. Yes. 3 Q. What did you say to President Compaore? 4 A. No, it was just a message that I took and I had to come 09:36:00 5 back to Mr Taylor with a response. That's all. I had nothing to 6 say, but to take message and to return the message to the sender. 7 Q. Well, message, did you express that message orally to 8 President Compaore? 9 A. Yes, it was done orally. 09:36:17 10 Q. And I just want to be clear, what was the message? 11 A. The message that he had not forgotten as a friend, that it 12 had taken long that he has not been talking to him, but that he 13 still had him in his mind and that things have been difficult 14 with him himself and that he was having difficulties, people were 09:36:43 15 planning to attack his government from different angles, and that 16 he should still remember him as a friend. 17 PRESIDING JUDGE: There are a couple of "he"s in there and 18 I'd like to be sure who is who. 19 MR RAPP: Thank you very much, your Honour. We will have 09:36:59 20 several questions later on yesterday's record regarding some 21 "he"s: 22 Q. So in this particular answer - perhaps just give it again 23 and use, instead of "he", the name of the individual who 24 expressed these views. 09:37:11 25 A. Mr Taylor had Mr Blaise Compaore still in mind as a friend. 26 Q. And what was President Compaore's response? 27 A. He said - Mr Compaore said that he is not happy with the 28 way the friendship had been going and that he had been risking 29 his life for him, that is Mr Taylor, but that he was not hearing SCSL - TRIAL CHAMBER II CHARLES TAYLOR Page 9894 15 MAY 2008 OPEN SESSION 1 from Mr Taylor any longer and that he was no longer happy about 2 the relationship. 3 Q. Well, when President Compaore said he had been risking his 4 life for Mr Taylor, what did you think he was talking about? 09:38:03 5 A. What I saw and from my own analysis is that he had been 6 helping, he had been sending things, he had been shipping 7 consignments and the news from Gaddafi that he should still send 8 Gaddafi consignments that he, Gaddafi, would replace later. 9 Those were the things I think Blaise was referring to. 09:38:29 10 Q. And when you refer to consignments, what did those 11 consignments consist of to your knowledge? 12 A. The previous consignment that I had made mention about, the 13 arms and ammunition. 14 Q. Now, you told us yesterday that you and Mr Tuah then met 09:38:50 15 Mr Musa Cisse and Ms Grace Minor in Ouagadougou. Did you know 16 that they would be there when you went to Ouagadougou? 17 A. No, sir, I did not know they were there. 18 Q. Did Mr Cisse say anything about both of you being in 19 Ouagadougou at the same time and what that indicated to him? 09:39:22 20 A. No, he only told me briefly. He did not tell me his 21 mission. He only told me that Mr Taylor was running things with 22 a Russian government and that he will send you and later send 23 someone after you. 24 THE INTERPRETER: Your Honours, the witness is going too 09:39:45 25 fast. 26 MR RAPP: 27 Q. Witness, you may have heard the interpreter that he said 28 you were going too fast. You were telling us about what Mr Cisse 29 had said to you. Would you repeat that slowly? SCSL - TRIAL CHAMBER II CHARLES TAYLOR Page 9895 15 MAY 2008 OPEN SESSION 1 A. Mr Cisse told me in a joke that Mr Taylor was running a 2 Russian government; that is he will send you and send someone 3 after you and you would not know the mission that person was on. 4 So he said that was the kind of government that Mr Taylor was 09:40:20 5 running, so we made a joke and we all laughed over it. 6 Q. Well, what was - what did you think about the joke? 7 A. The joke was just that there were too many people sent on 8 one mission and you didn't know what the other side was after and 9 the other side also did not know what you were after. 09:40:50 10 Q. Well, why did you think Mr Taylor was engaging in this kind 11 of practice? 12 A. I wouldn't know. 13 Q. You had described being on the plane and seeing the cargo 14 and the size of the cargo and the markings on it. Let me ask you 09:41:14 15 about what happened to the cargo when you reached Monrovia? 16 A. The cargo was unloaded at the Roberts international airport 17 and upon arrival, alighting from the plane to come down, there 18 were some trucks, about three or four in the column, and they 19 were waiting to receive the cargos.