2006年VOA标准英语-Hague Trial Could Mean Justice for More We

By Catherine Maddux
Washingron
10 April 2006

Maxwell Fornah, and Musa Vandi, who are both war amputees, battle for the ball in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Saturday, April, 1, 2006   
  
The arrest of former Liberian President Charles Taylor on war crimes charges closes one chapter in the history of more than a decade of brutal¹ civil wars in West Africa. Now that he is in custody² of a special U.N.-backed, war-crimes court in Sierra Leone, momentum³ is building to take Taylor out of the region, where he still wields⁴ considerable influence, to face justice at the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

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For many people in West Africa, there is no doubt that Mr. Taylor's arrest and transfer last month to Sierra Leone's war crimes court has brought relief and, even, a feeling of joy.

Sierra Leone native Ismail Rashid is a professor of African Studies at Vassar College.

"Overwhelmingly, in the region, the mood has been one of jubilation⁵ that Charles Taylor has been docked, and is going to have his day in court," said Professor Rashid. "In other words, for people in Guinea, for people in Liberia and for people in Sierra Leone, whose lives have been largely under the shadow of Charles Taylor, this, for them, is a great moment."

Rashid spoke⁶ along with other experts, who have followed Taylor's infamous⁷ career, at a recent seminar at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington.

The man responsible for indicting⁸ Taylor on 11 counts of war crimes, David Crane, also addressed the audience. Crane, now a law professor, was formerly⁹ the chief prosecutor¹⁰ of the Sierra Leone court.

He says the court has clear evidence that what turned into years of devastation¹¹ in West Africa began as a strategic and criminal plan involving several African leaders.

 
Former Liberian President Charles Taylor makes his first appearance at the Special Court in Freetown  April 3, 2006
  
"Charles Taylor was the center point of a 10-year, geopolitical plan that [Libyan leader] Moammar Gadhafi had started back in the late '80's, and began to recruit various individuals to include [rebel leader] Foday Sankoh, [Burkina Faso's] Blaise Compaore," he said. "And what we really found was a joint¹² criminal enterprise, set up to take the diamonds out of eastern Sierra Leone, to use this as a base to finance this geo-political plan of Moammar Gadhafi to take over a large portion of West Africa politically."

Crane says, from the beginning, prosecutors¹³ wanted Taylor caught, taken out of West Africa to allow peace to take root in the region and transferred to the tribunal in The Hague. Last week, the U.N. Security Council announced broad agreement for moving the trial to the Netherlands.

But as the case against Taylor gets under way, some experts worry that the other horrific crimes, including the maiming, raping¹⁴ and enslaving of civilians¹⁵, that victimized an estimated 600,000 people in Liberia are going to be forgotten.

That is because Taylor has been charged for his role in supporting rebels who fought in Sierra Leone's war, not in the separate 14-years of civil war in Liberia.

Liberia Institute for Peace, Democracy and Good Governance advisor¹⁶ Phillip Banks led the drafting of Liberia's current post-war constitution. He says, the statute¹⁷ Taylor has been charged under in the Sierra Leone war crimes court does not allow for the prosecution¹⁸ of others with blood on their hands.

"It limits effectively the prosecution of a lot of the individuals, who were associated with the conflict. The leaders of all of the warring factions¹⁹, who participated in tremendous atrocities²⁰ over a period of more than a decade - they cannot be reached by that court," said Banks. "Because that court can try only individuals, whose activities impacted on Sierra Leone."

And, so, Banks and the other speakers are calling for the creation of a tribunal for Liberia.

"There was more than [one] person, and I am talking about leadership inside countries in Africa, who were involved in the perpetration of the atrocities that were committed in that region, and whose action in support of those atrocities in my opinion, constituted their complicity in the crimes against humanity," added Banks. "Specifically, I can point to Cote D'Voire [Ivory Coast] and Burkina Faso."

Whether or not Liberia's victims get their day in court, Crane says, justice appears to be coming to those who bear the greatest responsibility for the atrocities that took place during a decade of war in Sierra Leone.

"You know, when you are sitting there trying these guys, and you have these people led in, [who are] missing various body parts," said David Crane. "And, you see one of them point their stump²¹ at the accused, saying 'you did this to me,' because their hand is missing, and then walk out proudly with their head held high past these guys, that is justice."

Last week, Taylor made his first appearance in the Sierra Leone court. He initially²² said he could not enter a plea, because he did not recognize the court. But after the judge insisted, Taylor said he did not commit, and could not have committed such crimes against humanity in Sierra Leone.

1 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

2 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

3 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

4 wields   

手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的第三人称单数 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响）

参考例句：

• She wields enormous power within the party. 她操纵着党内大权。
• He remains chairman, but wields little power at the company. 他还是主席，但在公司没有什么实权了。

5 jubilation   

n.欢庆，喜悦

参考例句：

• The goal was greeted by jubilation from the home fans.主场球迷为进球欢呼。
• The whole city was a scene of jubilation.全市一片欢腾。

6 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

7 infamous   

adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的

参考例句：

• He was infamous for his anti-feminist attitudes.他因反对女性主义而声名狼藉。
• I was shocked by her infamous behaviour.她的无耻行径令我震惊。

8 indicting   

控告，起诉( indict的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• But Moreno-Ocampo stressed he was not indicting President Bashir. 但是奥坎波强调，他并不是在起诉巴希尔总统。
• He says that indicting the journalists is just another move at Washington. 尹德民说，起诉这两名记者就是针对华盛顿的另一个行动。

9 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

10 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

11 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

13 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

14 raping   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的现在分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• In response, Charles VI sent a punitive expedition to Brittany, raping and killing the populace. 作为报复，查理六世派军讨伐布列塔尼，奸淫杀戮平民。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The conquerors marched on, burning, killing, raping and plundering as they went. 征服者所到之处烧杀奸掠，无所不做。 来自互联网

15 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

16 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

17 statute   

n.成文法，法令，法规；章程，规则，条例

参考例句：

• Protection for the consumer is laid down by statute.保障消费者利益已在法令里作了规定。
• The next section will consider this environmental statute in detail.下一部分将详细论述环境法令的问题。

18 prosecution   

n.起诉，告发，检举，执行，经营

参考例句：

• The Smiths brought a prosecution against the organizers.史密斯家对组织者们提出起诉。
• He attempts to rebut the assertion made by the prosecution witness.他试图反驳原告方证人所作的断言。

19 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别

20 atrocities   

n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪

参考例句：

• They were guilty of the most barbarous and inhuman atrocities. 他们犯有最野蛮、最灭绝人性的残暴罪行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The enemy's atrocities made one boil with anger. 敌人的暴行令人发指。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

21 stump   

n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走

参考例句：

• He went on the stump in his home state.他到故乡所在的州去发表演说。
• He used the stump as a table.他把树桩用作桌子。

22 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。