Supermodel Campbell may be forced to testify against Liberian dictator
An Irish-based pastor has urged the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone to leave Naomi Campbell alone, following the revelation that prosecutors intend to subpoena the supermodel to testify in the trial of former warlord Charles Taylor.
Prosecutors in the war crimes trial at The Hague have filed a motion to seek testimony from the British model which may tie Liberia’s former warlord to “using rough diamonds for personal enrichment and arms purchases”, according to media reports.
Campbell allegedly received a gift of rough diamonds from the former Liberian dictator at a 1997 dinner hosted by then South African President Nelson Mandela.
“She should not be used as a scapegoat, to be presented as a criminal,” said Rev Sahr Yambasu, Sierra Leone’s most vocal human rights advocate in Ireland and superintendent minister of the Methodist Church in Galway. “She is not at all, even if what they are alleging is true.”
He continued: “The prosecutors should actually be looking at people who were behind the war in Sierra Leone, why were they doing so and how did they benefit.”
Rev Yambasu said this would be much more beneficial to the war-torn country, which is struggling to come to terms with the effects of the brutal war, rather than “singling out one poor girl who was not in Sierra Leone, simply because she received a gift.”
Campbell has repeatedly refused invitations from the court to give testimony, though it’s strongly believed the court may compel her to attend. She has also declined to comment on whether she received diamonds from the former Liberian president.
Charles Taylor is currently on trial for war crimes, accused of masterminding the bloody war that led to the deaths of several thousand Sierra Leoneans between 1991 and 2001.
Appearing on Oprah Winfrey’s TV show recently, Campbell evaded questioning about her connection to Taylor, who resigned as President of Liberia in 2003 following years of controversy.
“I don’t want to be involved in this man’s case,” she said. “He has done some terrible things, and I don’t want to put my family in danger.”
However, US actress Mia Farrow, who was also at the Mandela dinner, has said many times that the supermodel received a large diamond from Taylor, which Campbell also informed her about the following day.
