Prosecutors trying former Liberian president Charles Taylor for war crimes at a U.N.-backed court asked judges Thursday to subpoena supermodel Naomi Campbell to testify about being given uncut diamonds by Taylor.

Special Court for Sierra Leone Prosecutor Brenda Hollis filed a motion saying Taylor allegedly gave Campbell diamonds at a reception in South Africa in September 1997. Taylor denies prosecutors' allegations that he provided arms and ammunition to brutal rebels during Sierra Leone's civil war in exchange for so-called blood diamonds.

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," Hollis said in the motion.

She adds that Taylor "denied ever having possessed rough diamonds and the evidence clearly contradicts his testimony on this central issue."