July has seen significant developments at the Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague, with the opening of the Charles Taylor defence case. The former president of Liberia has taken the stand in his own defence at his trial.
Sierra Leonean reporter Adolphus Williams and Liberian reporter Joseph Cheeseman will be covering this phase of the trial, which began on 13 July and is expected to last several months.
The two BBC World Service Trust-trained reporters spent the weeks prior to the opening of the defence case talking to Special Court representatives and recording interviews with Taylor's defence lawyers. This is to ensure that West African audiences have access to all the background and technical information they will need to follow the trial.
Williams says it is significant to have journalists from the region, who understand the situation on the ground, reporting from The Hague.
"[The] Hague link is important because where there is no information, imagination exists," he says. "If people cannot get information from The Hague they will come to the wrong conclusions, which is not healthy for us."
Communicating Justice
[The] Hague link is important because where there is no information, imagination exists
Adolphus Williams
Williams and Cheeseman are two of six West African reporters who have been trained, deployed and supported by the BBC World Service Trust to cover the court proceedings from The Hague as part of its "Communicating Justice" initiative.
The trial of Charles Taylor, the first African head of state to be tried by an international court, represents a crucial step in the consolidation of peace and national reconciliation in Sierra Leone and Liberia. However, the transfer of the trial to The Hague has rendered it extremely difficult for the peoples of the two countries to follow the court proceedings.
In response to this problem, the BBC World Service Trust launched a programme to support West African media coverage of the trial. Since the trial's launch in June 2007, the Liberian and Sierra Leonean reporters deployed in The Hague have filed daily correspondence-style reports from the court chambers to partner radio stations in Sierra Leone and Liberia. Weekly summaries and audio reports produced by the trainees are available on the project website:
www.communicatingjustice.org.
Training and mentoring
Prior to travelling to The Hague, the journalists received training on courtroom reporting and transitional justice issues, and also acquired training and mentoring skills.
At any one time, two journalists spend three months in The Hague where they gather material for radio programmes from their coverage of the trial proceedings.
All material is edited and packaged into a weekly 30-minute radio programme relevant to the needs of Sierra Leonean and Liberian audiences.
These locally produced programmes are then translated into local languages, transferred onto CD and then distributed to more than 40 radio stations throughout Sierra Leone and Liberia.
The central production system ensures that the audiences in Sierra Leone and Liberia receive an accurate and impartial account of the trial.
Meanwhile, the four journalists who are not deployed at The Hague provide sustained training and mentoring to local journalists at key radio stations in their own countries. This helps them to produce their own locally appropriate programming, interpreting the court proceedings for their audiences and providing a further opportunity for public discussion about the court case.
"Without the reporters stationed over there we would have been just like the rest of the world getting one off reports on only what interests the world media. When we listen, we feel that those in authority will think about the decisions they make" Shefu Othman, Fourah Bay, Sierra Leone
Taylor trial
When we listen, we feel that those in authority will think about the decisions they make
Shefu Othman, Fourah Bay, Sierra Leone
Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, has been charged by the Special Court for Sierra Leone with 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity that he allegedly committed in neighbouring Sierra Leone.
The defence phase of the trial began on Monday 13 July, following the completion of the prosecution case in February 2009. It is expected to last several months. Taylor has pleaded not guilty to all charges, calling the allegations lies and rumours.
The Special Court, an independent tribunal established jointly by the United Nations and the government of Sierra Leone, is using the International Criminal Court facilities in The Hague during the trial, which is expected to end in the early part of 2010.
The trial was transferred to The Hague on 20 June 2006 following concerns about regional security.
This project has been made possible through the assistance of the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), the MacArthur foundation and the Ford Foundation.
