20100917
africanews

The chief lawyer of the former Liberian president Charles Taylor at the crimes trial is visiting South Africa, a defense team spokesperson said on Thursday.

Courtenay Griffiths is in Johannesburg but gave no further details but sources say, Griffiths had expressed interest in meeting officials around Africa, possibly to testify at Taylor's Netherlands-based trial at the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

Taylor claimed to be innocent to 11 war-crimes charges linked to allegations that he supported rebels during Sierra Leone's 11-year civil war, which ended in 2002 with an estimated 100 000 dead.

In August, supermodel Naomi Campbell told the court Taylor gave her “dirty stones” in South Africa in 1997. Taylor has denied involvement in the diamond trade.