September Trial set For U.S. Citizen Accused of Torture
QuestionGirl January 6th, 2007 - 9:31 amunder a 1994 law making it a crime for a U.S. citizen to commit torture in foreign countries
Ahhhhh……how ironic is this. Contractors and CIA agents and our military are instructed to torture, yet we have a U.S. law that states it’s a crime for a U.S. citizen to commit torture in foreign countries. We have a President, Vice President and former Secretary of Defense who promote torture. What’s wrong with this picture?
MIAMI: A U.S. judge set a September trial date for the son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor in the first prosecution ever under a 1994 law making it a crime for a U.S. citizen to commit torture in foreign countries.
Attorneys for the Boston-born Charles McArthur Emmanuel, also known as Charles “Chuckie” Taylor Jr., told U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga at a hearing Friday that they will file a motion challenging the constitutionality of that law.
“We feel we are on firm ground legally,” said assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Rochlin.
Altonaga agreed to the Sept. 4 trial date in part to provide time for the constitutional issue to be fully argued. She ordered that the defense’s challenging motion be filed on Feb. 16.
Emmanuel, 29, is accused of torturing a Liberian man in 2002 while head of his father’s Anti-Terrorism Unit, which human rights organizations say is responsible for widespread killing, torture, kidnapping, rape and other crimes.
Taylor also faces trial later this year before a special United Nations tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity during a civil war in Sierra Leone. Taylor has pleaded not guilty.
Emmanuel was arrested in March at Miami International Airport for using a fake name for his father on a U.S. passport application. He pleaded guilty to that charge and is serving an 11-month sentence.
Read more at the International Herald Tribune
