Escape, Arrest and Extradition

  1. Trial may be in the Netherlands
     

  2. Arrested in northern Nigeria
     

  3. Disappearance from Calabar, Nigeria
     

  4. Nigeria agrees to hand Taylor over to Liberia
     

  5. Nigeria says to transfer Taylor to Liberia
     

  6. President Sirleaf made 'formal request' for extradition
     

  7. Taylor to be handed over within three weeks?
     

  8. President Sirleaf asks Nigeria to hand over former president Taylor
     

  9. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Taylor


 

 

Escape, Arrest and Extradition
March 2006

 


 
  1. Trial may be in The Hague, the Netherlands

    Liberia's former President Charles Taylor is finally in a detention centre in Sierra Leone. (...) However, for security reasons, the trial might in fact take place in The Hague, rather than in the Sierra Leone capital, Freetown. (...) The Dutch foreign ministry says it has received a formal request from the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

    BBC March 30, 2006
     

  2. Arrested in northern Nigeria

    Nigeria captured fugitive former Liberian President Charles Taylor on the border with Cameroon on Wednesday and deported him to Liberia, easing its embarrassment at his escape earlier in the week.

    The dramatic arrest and deportation came hours before President Olusegun Obasanjo was due to meet U.S. President George W. Bush, who has been pushing for Taylor to face war crimes charges in a special U.N.-backed court for years.

    Reuters March 29, 2006                            
     

  3. Disappearance from Calabar, Nigeria

    The location of exiled former Liberian president Charles Taylor, who is wanted for war crimes by a court in Sierra Leone, was unknown on Monday and his spokesman in Nigeria would not give any information.

    Reuters March 27, 2006                           
     

  4. Nigeria agrees to hand Taylor over to Liberia

    The Nigerian government on Saturday agreed to allow Liberian authorities to arrest exiled leader Charles Taylor and return him to Liberia, where he is accused of war crimes.

    CNN March 26, 2006                                     
     

  5. Nigeria says to transfer Taylor to Liberia

    Nigeria will transfer former Liberian president Charles Taylor, who is living in exile in Nigeria and has been indicted for war crimes, to Liberian custody, the Nigerian government said on Saturday.

    Reuters March 25, 2006                         
     

  6. Nigerian President Obasanjo’s office confirmed that President Sirleaf made a “formal request” for the extradition of Charles Taylor.

    Liberia has requested the extradition from Nigeria of former Liberian head of state Charles Taylor, the Nigerian presidency said on Friday.

    President Olusegun Obasanjo’s office said in a statement that Liberia’s newly elected head of state, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, had made a “formal request” for the extradition of the former warlord.

    And while on a visit to the US on Friday, Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf told the UN Security Council in New York that “it is time to bring the Taylor issue to closure.”

    IRIN March 17, 2006                              
     

  7. Taylor to be handed over within three weeks?

    Liberia's former warlord Charles Taylor, exiled in Nigeria, could be extradited to Liberia within three weeks, his ex-wife said Friday.

    "I have just been contacted by my (ex) husband and he has confirmed that he has a copy of the letter, given to him this morning by the Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo," Jewel Howard Taylor told AFP.

    AFP March 10, 2006                             
     
     

  8. President Sirleaf asks Nigeria to hand over former president Taylor

    Liberia's new president said Friday she will ask Nigeria to hand over ex-warlord Charles Taylor to a U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone, but declined to specify when, saying regional leaders must be consulted first.

    AP: January 20, 2006                                    
     

  9. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Taylor
     
    According to her (President Sirleaf), Liberia was a founding member of the United Nations, thus subjecting it to abiding by the UN resolutions and regulations thereto.

    As if she understands the standpoint from which the European Union (EU) spoke on the issue of Taylor, she said the EU was trekking the path of the United Nations which also wants to see Taylor turn over to Sierra Leone.

    Stating what she would do with the issue of former President Charles Taylor going to the UN-backed war crime court in Sierra Leone, she said she would consult with West African leaders before a decision can be taken.
     
    The Analyst November 21, 2005                

Charles Taylor upon arrival in Freetown, in bullet proof vest, March 2006
Charles Taylor handcuffed,
March 2006

pictures courtesy of: Awoko (Sierra Leone Newspaper),
March 30, 2006

 

Charles Taylor
1st African Head of State
on War Crimes Tribunal


 

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