Blood diamond prosecutors want to subpoena supermodel

Special Court of Sierra Leone prosecutors want to subpoena British supermodel Naomi Campbell after allegations that she received blood diamonds from Liberia's former president Charles Taylor. Taylor is currently on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity that occurred during the brutal civil war (1991-2001) in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

Reuters

"Ms Campbell's testimony is necessary as there is evidence that Ms Campbell was given rough diamonds by the accused [Taylor] in September 1997," according to a prosecution motion that was filed with the court and obtained by news wire AFP.

"Ms Campbell's anticipated evidence concerns a 'central issue' in the case: the accused's possession of rough diamonds," according to the document.

In January, the court heard that Campbell was given a rough diamond by Taylor in South Africa after a 1997 dinner hosted by former South African leader Nelson Mandela.

Campbell was asked by an American television reporter whether she had received blood diamonds from Taylor. "I didn't receive a diamond and I'm not going to speak about that, thank you very much," she told an ABC News reporter. She stormed out of the interview after she was questioned if she had had dinner with Taylor before.

Prosecutor Brenda Hollis cross-examined Taylor in January, asserting that he had taken diamonds from rebels in Sierra Leone and was planning to sell them or exchange them for weapons in South Africa.

Taylor has pleaded not guilty to all charges, which also include murder, rape, conscripting child soldiers, enslavement and pillaging.  He has been on trial since January 2008.

He is also accused of funding the war in neighbouring Sierra Leone by giving the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) guns in exchange for diamonds, called "blood diamonds" because they were sold to fund the bloody civil war.

The RUF killed some 120,000 people and maimed thousands by cutting off their arms or legs.