The UK-led legal team defending a former Liberian leader accused of war crimes is to ask the Law Society and the Bar Council to back an application to postpone his trial.


The trial of Charles Taylor at the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) was due to begin on 2 April, but his defence team have argued that the conditions under which they had to work had impaired their ability to prepare.



Until recently, the defence team lacked basic office facilities or a postal address in The Hague, where the trial will take place, or in Monrovia, Liberia, where part of the defence work will be done. They also had no computer, printer, telephone, Internet access, storage or meeting facilities. 'The conditions the defence team members are working under in The Hague are intolerable,' the team told the court.



The proceedings against Mr Taylor, who faces charges relating to the conflict in Sierra Leone, are being conducted by the SCSL, which is based in Freetown. However, the former Liberian leader, who denies the charges, is being held at detention facilities in The Hague, which belong to the International Criminal Court, where his trial will take place for security reasons. This caused uncertainty over who had authority over him.



The International Bar Association has previously raised concerns about defence facilities at The Hague.



The trial has been rescheduled for 4 June 2007, but Roger Sahota, acting co-counsel in the pre-trial stage and a partner at London firm BSB, said: 'We consider there to be good cause to have the date put back to September. We will shortly be asking the Law Society and Bar Council to submit a brief in support of our application for more time and to set up a trial monitoring group to ensure Mr Taylor receives a fair trial.'



Catherine Baksi