U.N. Uses ZyLAB in 'Blood Diamonds' Trial and Other Vendor Updates

ZyLAB reports that its investigative software helped The Special Court for Sierra Leone to prove its case against former Liberian president, Charles Taylor, who was accused of using “blood diamonds” to support rebel troops. In April, the court in The Hague found Taylor guilty for the killing of tens of thousands of people during the civil war. “This was a very difficult case for the prosecution to prove,” said Johannes Scholtes, chief strategy officer for ZyLAB. “The team had millions of relevant documents of varying quality and formats, and only a portion was readily searchable.” ZyLAB software helped the legal team use exploratory search methods, he said.

With the software, the investigation team was able to span the complete collection, and “it also led to the discovery of integral references and code words for the prosecution’s case,” said Scholtes. Its data mining tools “were used to pinpoint and decipher several clandestine references and alias terms that ultimately influenced the case.” The Special Court for Sierra Leone was set up jointly by the Government of Sierra Leone and the United Nations. ZyLAB, a privately held company, is headquartered in McLean, Va., and Amsterdam.