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International Tribunals (Sierra Leone) Bill [Lords]

I am sorry that I did not answer all the questions—I could not write fast enough. The Special Court or its successor body will have to make any decisions on early release. There will be no financial cost to this country as a consequence of those decisions other than the cost of keeping Charles Taylor in prison if he is found guilty and if the court decides that he will be imprisoned in this country. If the Special Court convicted Charles Taylor and he was imprisoned in the UK, there would be no role for the UK courts. That is important. Under sentence enforcement agreements with international criminal tribunals, the role of the imprisoning state is simply to implement the sentence imposed by the tribunal, which retains responsibility for all decisions about appeal, revision or reduction. The hon. Gentleman asked what happens if the Special Court winds up. Let us consider the event of the court ceasing to exist in its current form. As I tried to explain earlier, due to the completion of its current trial load, judicial responsibility will pass to a designated successor body. Discussion is already taking place on the form that it should take. He also asked about what would happen if something occurred to the prisoner while he was in prison—illness, for example. I have been reliably informed that he would be dealt with in the same way as any other high security prisoner. Indeed, he would be dealt with just like any other high security prisoner in every respect. I hope that that satisfies the hon. Gentleman.