Charles Taylor Trial Monitoring Website Launched

As the war crimes trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor resumes this week in The Hague, the Open Society Justice Initiative has launched its trial monitoring blog, www.CharlesTaylorTrial.org, which provides daily updates from the courtroom, as well as legal reports and expert analysis.

Taylor, who is charged with 11 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious violations of international humanitarian law related to the civil conflicts in Sierra Leone, is being tried by the Special Court for Sierra Leone. His trial is being held in The Hague at the request of the United Nations Security Council, due to security concerns were it held in West Africa.

Alpha Sesay, a Sierra Leonean attorney who has been monitoring the Taylor trial since April 2008, will continue posting daily updates on the site. Sesay has trained journalists in both Sierra Leone and Liberia on the law and background of the Taylor trial and regularly kept West African media informed about the case's progress.

CharlesTaylorTrial.org is a project of the Open Society Justice Initiative, together with the War Crimes Studies Center at the University of California at Berkeley.