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Former Liberia President Charles Taylor sentenced to 50 years
Taylor showed no emotion as he stood while Lussick handed down what was effectively a life sentence.
“The lives of many more innocent civilians in Sierra Leone were lost or destroyed as a direct result of his actions,” Presiding Judge Richard Lussick said.
Prosecutors had asked for an 80-year sentence; Taylor’s lawyers urged judges to hand down a sentence that offered him some hope of release before he dies.
Hollis said the sentence would only provide a measure of closure for victims of one of Africa’s most difficult conflicts.
“The sentence that was imposed today does not replace amputated limbs. It does not bring back those who were murdered,” she said. “It does not heal the wounds of those who were victims of sexual violence and does not remove the permanent emotional and psychological and physical scars of those enslaved or recruited as child soldiers.”
Lussick said an 80-year sentence would have been excessive as Taylor was convicted of aiding and abetting crimes and not direct involvement.
But the judge added that Taylor was “in a class of his own” compared to others convicted by the United Nations-backed court.
