The warlord and the supermodel: Naomi Campbell testifies at The Hague

The World

Former warlord and president of Liberia Charles Taylor has been on trial for over three years, charged with war crimes he allegedly committed in Sierra Leone. The trial, moved to The Hague from Sierra Leone for safety reasons, has only now recieved world wide media attention. That can all be attributed to supermodel Naomi Campbell, who is scheduled to testify in court today on whether or not she received a “blood diamond” from Taylor.

Her testimony could be crucial to the case. It could prove the prosecution’s assertion that Taylor received diamonds from Sierra Leone rebels and then sold them for weapons while on a trip to South Africa in 1997.

Alpha Sesay is a trial monitor for the Open Society Trial Initiative, and has been live blogging the trial on charlestaylortrial.org. He joins us with the latest details of this case.

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