Naomi Campbell to Blood Diamonds Court

AMSTERDAM — An international court Thursday subpoenaed 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 her in 1997.

The court warned the supermodel that she could be jailed for up to seven years if she refuses to testify.

Prosecutors want Campbell to say whether Taylor gave her a rough, or uncut, diamond as a gift during a celebrity-packed 1997 reception in South Africa hosted by then-President Nelson Mandela. They contend her testimony will support their contention that Taylor lied when he testified that he never possessed rough diamonds.

Prosecutors assert that Taylor dealt in so-called blood diamonds — those mined in a war zone, where the proceeds finance an insurgency.

The Special Court for Sierra Leone issued the order forcing Campbell to testify after she avoided prosecutors for a year and made it known she had no wish to be part of the case.

She was ordered to appear in court in The Hague on July 29 "or to show good cause why you cannot comply with this subpoena."

Refusal could lead to prosecution for contempt, which carries a maximum seven-year prison sentence and a fine of 2 million Sierra Leone leones, or about $510, according to the subpoena released by the court.

The appearance of Campbell, as well as of actress Mia Farrow and the model's former agent Carole White, who do not appear to have resisted testifying, will add a touch of glitz to a case already seen as a landmark, the first time a former African head of state has been put on trial by an international court.

Prosecutors had complained to the judges that they had tried unsuccessfully to contact Campbell several times since June 2009, when they received information that Taylor had given her the rough diamond.

Taylor is accused of supporting rebels in Sierra Leone's 1991-2002 civil war, which claimed an estimated 500,000 victims of killings, systematic mutilation or other atrocities, with some of the worst crimes committed by child soldiers who were drugged to desensitize them.



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Tags:

• Naomi campbell
• liberia
• charles taylor
• blood diamonds
• conflict diamonds

[stompySharpNpointy]

you guys dont seem to be listening it was 1997 no one knew about blood diamonds then ..and super models get gifts all the time im sure in 97 she was clueless of what was going on

[sweetypie000]

this is shockingly depressing news for this woman to do that kind of thing to her own heritage of people

:D

[JDGFILMPRODUKTIONS]

The bitch Naomi sews its own race

[cannoir]

Marylin Monroe did too.

[rootslandgreat]

The women loves a diamond.... hahahahaha! despite sad history about......

[azalori]

Please Naomi if you got it give away the evidences. The World need to know the true about those crimes. Is not worth.