Court allows Charles Taylor’s prosecutors to summon model Naomi Campbell on “blood diamond”
By APWednesday, June 30, 2010
Naomi Campbell to testify at Charles Taylor trial
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Judges in former Liberian president Charles Taylor’s war crimes case have allowed prosecutors to summon supermodel Naomi Campbell to testify whether she received a raw diamond as a gift from him.
The order did not say when Campbell, along with and actresses Mia Farrow and Carol White, will be called. Taylor is accused of stoking civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone partly to exploit its mineral resources and diamond fields.
Campbell is alleged to have received the diamond at a 1997 reception in South Africa.
Defense attorneys argued that prosecutors were introducing evidence too late, nearly 1-1/2 years after they closed their case.
Judges ruled Wednesday the prosecution only learned of the incident a year ago and it was relevant to the case.
