Model to testify in blood-diamond trial

Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands

Naomi Campbell and actress Mia Farrow will be summoned to testify at former Liberian President Charles Taylor’s war-crimes trial, addressing allegations Taylor gave the supermodel an uncut diamond at a South African reception in 1997.

The Special Court for Sierra Leone granted a request Wednesday by prosecutors to call Campbell and Farrow, along with Carole White, who was Campbell’s agent at the time.

It is not yet clear when their summons will be issued.

The prosecution hopes the women’s testimony will support its claims that Taylor dealt in “blood diamonds” when he supported rebels in neighboring Sierra Leone during the 1991-2002 civil war, which Taylor denies.

Taylor’s lawyers had argued that the request to call the celebrities was “an obvious publicity stunt,” and that it was too late to introduce new evidence, nearly 18 months after the prosecution closed its case.

But the judges accepted the prosecution’s argument that the evidence came to light only last June and was pertinent enough to warrant their summons.

Prosecutors said Campbell has told them through a lawyer she does not want to get involved in the case, and that subsequently they had made “many unsuccessful attempts” to contact her.

In a written statement to the court, Farrow said Campbell told her that two or three men woke her up and “presented her with a large diamond, which they said was from Charles Taylor.”