Liberian victim faces his alleged torturer in U.S. court

MIAMI - A Liberian testified yesterday that he was held naked in a chest-high pit of filth in the jungle, one of several torture victims seeking damages from the son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor.

Charles McArthur Emmanuel, also known as Charles "Chuckie" Taylor Jr., was convicted last year in federal court in Miami of violating U.S. antitorture laws and is serving a 97-year prison sentence. Five torture victims sued after his criminal conviction and won a judgment in May.

Now, U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan is considering whether to award damages, and if so, how much.

Emmanuel, a U.S. citizen born in Boston, joined his father in Liberia in 1997 and led the ATU, a paramilitary unit know as the "demon forces." The group was used by Charles Taylor to silence opposition and train soldiers, including children, for combat in neighboring African countries, according to trial testimony.

Emmanuel did not testify at his trial but yesterday denied the victims' claims.

His conviction was the first and so far only one under a 1994 law allowing U.S. prosecution for torture and other atrocities committed overseas. The trial was held in Miami because Emmanuel was arrested here in 2006 on charges of falsifying his father's name on a passport application.

One of the five victims, Rufus Kpadeh, said he was arrested in August 1999 because he belonged to a party opposed to Taylor's presidency and was hauled before Emmanuel by armed soldiers. "He wanted me to tell him I was a rebel so he could kill me," Kpadeh said. "I told him I had never fought in a war before and I am not a rebel."

Kpadeh said Emmanuel ordered soldiers to cut his genitals, then had him taken to a jungle prison where he was kept naked in a pit filled chest-high with filthy water. Kpadeh said his right arm suffered permanent nerve damage because he was forced to carry a log and his arms were bound at awkward angles.

"It was very painful. I suffered from that, and up to now, I still suffer," Kpadeh said, adding that he worried constantly about his safety because "Chuckie and his dad have more loyalists in Liberia."

Emmanuel is acting as his own lawyer in the trial. He said he would not ask any questions or testify because of potential impact on his criminal case, which is on appeal.

The five Liberians did not request a specific amount of damages, but their legal papers cited similar cases involving other countries in which amounts awarded run into the tens of millions of dollars per person. A decision on damages is expected early next year.

The elder Taylor, meanwhile, is embroiled in a long-running trial before a U.N. tribunal in the Hague, Netherlands, accusing him of overseeing the murder, rape, and mutilation of thousands of people during neighboring Sierra Leone's 10-year civil war. Taylor denies the charges.