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Former Liberia president Charles Taylor guilty of war crimes
Former Liberia President Charles Taylor. PHOTO/AFP
In a historic ruling, an international court convicted former Liberian President Charles Taylor on Thursday of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity for supporting notoriously brutal rebels in neighboring Sierra Leone in return for blood diamonds.
Mr. Taylor is the first head of state convicted by an international court since the post-World War II Nuremberg military tribunal.
Presiding Judge Richard Lussick said the 64-year-old warlord-turned-president provided arms, ammunition, communications equipment and planning to rebels responsible for countless atrocities in the 1991-2002 Sierra Leone civil war. Judge Lussick called the support “sustained and significant.”
“Mr. Taylor, the trial chamber unanimously finds you guilty” of 11 charges including terror, murder, rape and conscripting child soldiers, Judge Lussick told Mr. Taylor.
Mr. Taylor stood and showed no emotion as Judge Lussick delivered the guilty verdicts at the Special Court for Sierra Leone. Judge Lussick scheduled a sentencing hearing for May 16 and said sentence would be passed two weeks later. Mr. Taylor will serve his sentence in Britain.
Human rights activists hailed the convictions as a watershed moment in the fight against impunity for national leaders responsible for atrocities.
“Taylor’s conviction sends a powerful message that even those in the highest level positions can be held to account for grave crimes,” said Elise Keppler of Human Rights Watch. “Not since Nuremberg has an international or hybrid war crimes court issued a judgment against a current or former head of state. This is a victory for Sierra Leonean victims, and all those seeking justice when the worst abuses are committed.”
