Charles Taylor was one of the most charismatic of all African leaders of the 1990s. A former warlord, preacher and president of Liberia, Charles Taylor has since 2003 sought to keep a low profile. Despite brief interludes of publicity, Charles Taylor has all but disappeared from the public consciousness. Few people will realise that the former Liberian leader is currently sitting in a cell at the United Nations Detention Unit and taking part in a War Crimes trial, this as of October 2009.

The recent life of Charles Taylor has involved arrest warrants and trials, starting in November 2003 when the United States pushed the United Nations and Interpol into naming the former Liberian president a wanted man. Taylor was at the time in exile in Nigeria, although the country would later give him up to Liberia in 2006. For a brief period of time Charles Taylor did disappear but was located by the Nigerian police and military and handed over to American troops for removal to Freetown.

The Special Court for Sierra Leone in Freetown, would then transfer Charles Taylor for trial in The Hague, where the ex-Liberian President would face eleven charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity starting on the 7th January 2008. Charles Taylor was also accused of inciting his troops to commit acts of cannibalism.

The Hague is seen as the second city of the United Nations, and even before the creation of the United Nations was seen as the seat of justice for the world. As a result it has been the leading site for legal events for over a century. In recent years the majority of war crime trials have taken place in The Hague, with most of the accused detained at the Penitentiary Institution Haaglanden.

Few war crime trials stay in the public mind for long. There is a brief interest when an arrest is made, then a period of inactivity, and some more publicity when a trial starts. Take the most recent example of Radovan Karadzic as evidence, where there was a great deal of interest in his arrest, and only a recent revival in interest as Karadzic refuses to attend his trial.

Charles Taylor though is the last of the accused to face the Special Court for Sierra Leone, be it in Africa or The Hague, and until the verdict of his trial is announced, he will remain a guest of the United Nations in the Detention Unit.

Learn more about this author, Tim Harry.
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