Liberia

The war crimes trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor begins June 4 with opening arguments, the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone announced May 8. “That Charles Taylor will now face justice is the very embodiment of the maxim that no one is above the law,” Special Court Prosecutor Stephen Rapp said. Taylor faces 11 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and other serious violations of international humanitarian law, including mass murder, mutilations, rape, sexual slavery and the use of child soldiers, for his role in the decade-long civil war that engulfed Sierra Leone. (UN News)