The man describing himself as the chief of operations for former Liberian President Charles Taylor, Joseph Marzah, or "Zigzag," told the United Nations-backed Special Court for the Sierra Leone that Taylor encouraged his fighters to "play with human blood." Marzah told the court about roving bands of death squads terrorizing the civilian population at checkpoints by displaying severed human heads at roadblocks. "We executed everybody , babies, women, old men. There were so many executions. I can't remember them all," Marzah said.
Marzah told the court that weapons were flown into Sierra Leone on foreign cargo planes using "blood diamonds" for financial support. Marzah said he collaborated with a "white guy with a big stomach" to smuggle weapons and diamonds for Taylor. He later described an assassination attempt on a militia leader, Issa Sesay. He also described an order from Taylor to execute then-President Samuel Doe by intercepting his convoy. Marzah said Taylor gave him order "to execute them with knives." Not finding Doe, Marzah and his soldiers executed 72 members of Doe's convoy with knives later that day.
Taylor faces 11 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes for allegedly cooperating with militants to gain access to the diamond trade, recruiting child soldiers, and other atrocities.
