An international court Thursday cited reluctant supermodel Naomi Campbell to testify this month in the war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor about a rough diamond Taylor allegedly gave in 1997.
The court warned the supermodel that she could be jailed for up to seven years if he refuses to testify.
Prosecutors want to say if Taylor Campbell gave him a rough or uncut diamonds as a gift during a celebrity-filled reception in 1997 South Africa hosted by then President Nelson Mandela. They claim his testimony support his argument that Taylor lied when he testified that he had never possessed rough diamonds.
Prosecutors say Taylor negotiated called blood diamonds – those mined in a war zone, the proceeds of the financing of an insurgency.
The Special Court for Sierra Leone issued an order forcing Campbell to testify after she avoids the tax for one year and stated that she had no desire to be part of the case.
He was ordered to appear before the tribunal at The Hague on July 29 at 9 am “or to show good cause why can not comply with this subpoena.”
The refusal could lead to a process for contempt, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment and a fine of two million of Sierra Leone lions, or about $ 510, according to the citation released by the court.
The emergence of Campbell, as well as actress Mia Farrow and former model agent Carole White, who seems to have been reluctant to testify, will give a touch of sparkle to a case already considered a landmark, the first time a former African head of state has been brought to trial by an international court.
The court said the summons was issued to Campbell’s lawyer in London, Gideon Benaim, who said the court will accept it.
However, the citation said, British authorities may be asked to “ensure that you, Naomi Campbell appears at the time and place indicated above.”
Prosecutors had complained to the judges who had tried unsuccessfully several times to contact Campbell since June 2009, when they received information that Taylor had given him the diamond in the rough.
“The prosecution has shown that there is at least a good possibility that the information to be provided by Ms. Campbell would be of material assistance to his case,” said an earlier ruling dated Wednesday.
He cited Campbell’s public statements that she “did not want to be involved in the case.”
Taylor is accused of supporting rebels in the 1991-2002 Sierra Leone civil war that claimed some 500,000 victims of killings, systematic mutilation and other atrocities, with some of the worst crimes committed by child soldiers who were drugged to desensitization.
In exchange for helping the rebels, prosecutors say Taylor plundered the neighboring country of its timber and mineral wealth, including precious stones known as the “blood” diamonds.
His trial was held in The Hague for fear of further violence if the hearings were held in Sierra Leone. After several failed attempts, which began in January 2008. Taylor’s own testimony took seven months.
Defense attorneys opposed the request to call Campbell, arguing that the prosecution had completed its case for 18 months and Campbell’s story is irrelevant, because she can not testify to any connection between the diamond and the alleged involvement Taylor to the rebels in Sierra Leone. The court ruled this week, however, that the prosecution could summon the three women.
Farrow has already given a written statement to the court that Campbell told him about the gift, but the judges refused to accept the statement when the prosecution sought to introduce as evidence in January. During the interview, Taylor said the story was “totally wrong.”