2:30pm: Court resumed after lunch-break and prosecution continued and completed the examination of Witness TF1-338 in closed session. Court continued in closed session and resumed in open session only with the cross-examination of the witness.

Witness’s Contact with Prosecution

Defense counsel asked the witness whether he had heard of any testimonies by other witness in the Taylor trial. The witness said that he only heard about the case on the BBC in February 2007 but that since witnesses started testifying, he has not followed any news on the proceedings.

Asked how the prosecution obtained his name or contact, the witness said he could not tell. The witness said that when prosecution investigators obtained statements from him, he had time to correct mistakes that were made in the statements.  The witness told defense counsel that he signed his statements obtained by the prosecution. Defense then made an application for all the witness’s signed statements to be disclosed by the prosecution. Prosecution counsel Brenda Hollis responded that she would ask in the office and see if there are any signed statements.

How did the witness join the RUF?

Defense counsel asked the witness whether he joined the RUF voluntarily. The witness said he volunterred but only did so out of fear that if he had not done so, the rebels would have killed him. The witness said that when he joined the RUF, he only received ideology training when he became bodyguard to Sankoh. The witness spoke about how the NPRC pushed them from Kailahun, into Liberia in 1992, and how ULIMO blocked their access route between Sierra Leone and Liberia in 1993/94. The witness said that during this time, they relied on captured materials from the Sierra Leone army.

Court adjourned for the day.