Naomi Campbell Gives Shameful Testimony During Charles Taylor Trial
If ever there were a celebrity who deserved a bitter taste of her own medicine (in this case, being ruthlessly beaten with a Blackberry) it's former supermodel Naomi Campbell.
Besides having an unscrupulous reputation as a violent, selfish, arrogant bitch who beats her assistants and those who get in her way, apparently Campbell enjoys the company of brutal dictators who commit crimes against humanity. Which, given her rich history of violence, is kind of fitting.
During a war tribunal in the Hague this week against Charles Taylor, the former ruler of Liberia, Campbell was subpoenaed (she refused to come willingly) to testify about allegedly receiving blood diamonds from the war-torn country of Sierra Leone. Campbell made it clear she was uninterested in finding justice for the thousands of victims of rape and murder at the hands of Taylor, and was unrepentant:
"I didn't really want to be here. I was made to be here, so obviously I'm just hoping to get this over with and get on with my life. This is a big inconvenience for me."
Some background to this story. In 1997, Campbell was a party guest of South African President Nelson Mandela. Also in attendance was Charles Taylor, and actress Mia Farrow. According to Campbell, sometime during the night she was visited by two men who presented her with a pouch, and was told they were a gift. In the pouch, which Campbell claims she didn't look at until later, were some "dirty looking stones." It is believed that these stones were "blood diamonds" taken from the diamond rich country of Sierra Leone.
Taylor is being accused of using these diamonds to fund the bloody civil war in Sierra Leone, which is reported to have killed thousands, including brutal rapes and mutilation of women and children, as well as forcing boys and young men into life as soldiers, often plying them with drugs and alcohol as coercion techniques. The film, Blood Diamonds, starring Leonardo DiCaprio dramatized the brutality.
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