The request for Naomi Campbell to appear at the trial of former
Liberian president Charles Taylor has been branded a "publicity stunt"
by his lawyers.
Prosecutors want
the supermodel to testify at the war crimes trial in The Hague
over claims she was given a so-called "blood diamond" by Taylor during a
reception in South Africa in 1997.But the former Liberian president's lawyers have opposed the motion, claiming the evidence was "tangential to the real issues".
The request for Campbell to appear as a witness at the trial follows allegations by actress Mia Farrow and the supermodel's former agent Carole White, who were at the same event in South Africa.
In a written statement to the court, Farrow said Campbell told her she had been woken up in the middle of the night by two or three men who "presented her with a large diamond which they said was from Taylor".
Actress Mia Farrow
Campbell has said through her lawyer that she does not want to get involved in the case.
But according to prosecutors, Campbell's testimony would provide "direct evidence of the accused's possession of rough diamonds from a witness unrelated to the Liberian or Sierra Leone conflicts".
Taylor is charged with 11 counts of murder, torture, rape, sexual slavery and the use of child soliders and terrorism in his role backing rebels in Sierra Leone's 1991-2002 civil war.
Campbell recently stormed out of an interview with ABC News after she was quizzed about receiving the alleged gift.
She later told US chat show host Oprah Winfrey that she did not want to get involved.
"He [Taylor] has done some terrible things, Campbell said. "I don't want to put my family in danger."