Charles Taylor sentenced to 50 years for war crimes

THE HAGUE (AFP) –
Liberia’s Charles Taylor
sentenced to 50 years
for Sierra Leone war
crimes
A UN-backed war crimes
court has sentenced
former Liberian president
Charles Taylor to 50
years in prison
Wednesday for arming
Sierra Leone rebels in
return for “blood
diamonds”.
“The trial chamber
unanimously sentences
you to a single term of
imprisonment for 50
years on all counts,” said
Special Court for Sierra
Leone judge Richard
Lussick at the court
based just outside The
Hague.
“The accused has been
found responsible for
aiding and abetting some
of the most heinous
crimes in human history,”
said Lussick.
Taylor, 64, dressed in a
smart dark suit, white
shirt and golden tie,
listened with his eyes
closed and a drawn face
as the judge handed
down the sentence, which
Taylor can appeal.
The former president was
convicted on April 26 on
all 11 counts of war
crimes and crimes against
humanity for aiding and
abetting Sierra Leone’s
Revolutionary United
Front (RUF) during the
country’s 1991-2001 civil
war.
In return, the court said,
Taylor was paid in
diamonds mined by slave
labour in areas under
control of rebels who
murdered, raped and
kept sex slaves while
hacking off limbs and
forcing children under 15
to fight.
Source: Vanguard Newspaper