Naomi Campbell testifies at Liberian’s war crimes trial
Naomi Campbell testified before a war crimes tribunal Thursday that she had received some “dirty-looking stones” after a 1997 dinner party with former Liberian ruler Charles Taylor. Still, the supermodel said she didn’t know if the stones were actually diamonds or if the gift came from Taylor himself.
Campbell, an extremely reluctant witness at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, was being questioned in Taylor’s war crimes trial about claims made by actress Mia Farrow. Farrow had said Taylor gave the model an uncut diamond or diamonds after an event hosted by then-South African President Nelson Mandela at his presidential mansion in Pretoria.
Prosecutors had hoped Campbell would provide evidence that Taylor traded guns to neighboring Sierra Leone rebels in exchange for uncut diamonds — sometimes known as “blood diamonds” for their role in financing conflicts — during Sierra Leone’s 1992-2002 civil war.
