2007年VOA标准英语-UN Prosecutor Says Trial of Former Liberian Pre

By Stephanie Ho
Washington
11 June 2007

The chief prosecutor¹ of the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone says he is confident the trial against Charles Taylor will proceed as scheduled, despite the former Liberian president's no show at the trial's opening last week. VOA's Stephanie Ho reports from Washington, where the prosecutor spoke² with reporters.

The Special Court for Sierra Leone was set up by the Sierra Leonean government and the United Nations in 2002 to try those responsible for war crimes during that African nation's decade-long civil war.

Mr. Taylor is accused of terrorism, murder, rape³, sexual slavery, mutilation and recruiting child soldiers during the time he was president. He has pleaded innocent to all counts.

At a news conference in Washington Monday, Special Court for Sierra Leone chief prosecutor Stephen Rapp said he believes Charles Taylor's decision to boycott⁴ the trial opening last Monday at the Hague will not be a dire⁵ setback⁶.

"The trial can not be hijacked⁷ by an individual," said Rapp. "It needs to go forward and go forward in the best possible way, but not in a situation where the accused himself can essentially⁸ abort⁹ the process by the election not to turn up."

 

Mr. Taylor is in custody¹⁰ in the Hague, but did not show up in the court room. His lawyer read a letter saying the former Liberian leader was absent because he believes he will not get a fair trial.

Herman Von Hebel, the Special Court's acting¹¹ registrar¹², dismissed Mr. Taylor's claims that he had insufficient¹³ resources to prepare a proper defense¹⁴.

"Actually, we have been giving the defense counsel sufficient funds, more actually, than defense counsels get in other international tribunals," said Hebel.

At the same time, regional experts believe Mr. Taylor, who has said he wants to represent himself, has millions of dollars stashed¹⁵ away from his time in power.

Special Court for Sierra Leone chief prosecutor Stephen Rapp (2006 file photo)

Chief prosecutor Rapp says the next step of the court proceedings¹⁶ is the first session to present evidence and hear witnesses, which begins June 25 and runs for four weeks.

"We're anticipating going forward with that session," said Rapp. "I suppose there's some difficulty on the counsel question or something else that needs to be done, there could be some delay during that period, but we're not anticipating that."

Rapp says he expects the trial judges will want to keep the proceedings on schedule to wrap up within 18 months, or by the end of 2008.

 

Mr. Taylor does not face the death penalty and there is no prescribed maximum number of years in prison if he is sentenced. But the prosecutor added that he is pushing for a stiff jail term.

"Mr. Taylor is now 59 years old," said Rapp. "We would anticipate that he could receive a sentence that would effectively be a life sentence."

If Mr. Taylor is acquitted¹⁷, he is free to return, as a private citizen, to Liberia. If he is convicted and sent to jail, he is set to serve out his prison term in Britain.

1 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。

2 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。

3 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

4 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

5 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

6 setback   

n.退步，挫折，挫败

参考例句：

• Since that time there has never been any setback in his career.从那时起他在事业上一直没有遇到周折。
• She views every minor setback as a disaster.她把每个较小的挫折都看成重大灾难。

7 hijacked   

劫持( hijack的过去式和过去分词 )； 绑架； 拦路抢劫； 操纵（会议等，以推销自己的意图）

参考例句：

• The plane was hijacked by two armed men on a flight from London to Rome. 飞机在从伦敦飞往罗马途中遭到两名持械男子劫持。
• The plane was hijacked soon after it took off. 那架飞机起飞后不久被劫持了。

8 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

9 abort   

v.使流产，堕胎；中止；中止(工作、计划等)

参考例句：

• The captain instructed them to abort the mission.上尉指示他们中止执行任务。
• With this button the user can abort the audio sequence.用户可以用该按钮终止音频序列。

10 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。

11 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

12 registrar   

n.记录员，登记员；(大学的)注册主任

参考例句：

• You can obtain the application from the registrar.你可以向注册人员索取申请书。
• The manager fired a young registrar.经理昨天解雇了一名年轻的记录员。

13 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

14 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

15 stashed   

v.贮藏( stash的过去式和过去分词 )；隐藏；藏匿；藏起

参考例句：

• She has a fortune stashed away in various bank accounts. 她有一大笔钱存在几个不同的银行账户下。
• She has a fortune stashed away in various bank accounts. 她在不同的银行账户上秘密储存了一大笔钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

17 acquitted   

宣判…无罪( acquit的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（自己）作出某种表现

参考例句：

• The jury acquitted him of murder. 陪审团裁决他谋杀罪不成立。
• Five months ago she was acquitted on a shoplifting charge. 五个月前她被宣判未犯入店行窃罪。