Hague prison depressing, says Taylor

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor is not happy about conditions in the Hague jail he was moved to last month, his lawyer said today as as the former leader appeared in court for the first time since he left Sierra Leone.

Defence lawyer Karim Khan told the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, which will try Taylor for war crimes, that his client could not make phone calls as freely as he could in Freetown, lockdown hours were more draconian and he was unhappy about the food in the "rather Eurocentric" facility.

"Mr Taylor should be afforded the same rights and the same regime that are afforded to all other detained persons (in Sierra Leone)," Mr Khan said.

Taylor, wearing a grey suit to the procedural hearing, also asked the court through his lawyer to speed visas for his family to visit him in The Hague. Taylor’s wife is six months pregnant.

Riviera of detention

The Sierra Leone special court moved Taylor to The Hague because of fears a trial in Freetown could spur unrest in Sierra Leone or Liberia. Proceedings are being held in the premises of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Judge Richard Lussick said he did not want people to have the impression Freetown was "the Riviera of detention" but said he hoped the court’s registrar would address Taylor’s concerns.

Herman von Hebel, the Sierra Leone court’s deputy registrar, told journalists he had come to the Hague to talk to the ICC about logistics related to the trial and said he thought Taylor’s concerns were mostly easily solved "start-up" issues.

Taylor already appeared in court in Freetown for an initial hearing in April, when he pleaded innocent to 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for backing rebels who raped and mutilated civilians during a brutal 1991-2002 civil war in Sierra Leone, Liberia’s neighbour.