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Subscribe to RSSThe International Criminal Court at the Hague has found former Liberian President Charles Taylor guilty of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity by supporting brutal rebels responsible for countless atrocities in the 1991-2002 Sierra Leone civil war. ITV's Paul Brand reports.
Updated at 8:01 a.m. ET: THE HAGUE -- In a historic ruling, a U.N.-backed court on Thursday convicted ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor of war crimes during a conflict that left 50,000 dead.
Taylor, 64, was charged with murder, rape, conscripting child soldiers and sexual slavery during intertwined wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone. However, the court found him guilty of only some of the charges.
Taylor is the first head of state convicted by an international court since the post-World War II Nuremberg military tribunal.
The tribunal found Taylor guilty of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity by supporting notoriously brutal rebels in return for "blood diamonds."
Presiding Judge Richard Lussick said the warlord-turned-president provided arms, ammunition, communications equipment and planning to rebels responsible for countless atrocities in the 1991-2002 Sierra Leone civil war. Lussick called the support "sustained and significant."
Echoes of a war: A journey around Sierra Leone
Taylor stood and showed no emotion as Lussick delivered the guilty verdicts at the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
While judges convicted him of aiding and abetting atrocities by rebels, they cleared him of direct command responsibility, saying he had no direct control over the rebels he supported.
Lussick scheduled a sentencing hearing for May 16 and said sentence would be passed two weeks later.
The Associated Press reported that thousands celebrated in Sierra Leone after learning that Taylor had been convicted. Countless survivors of the civil war bear emotional and physical scars from the war. Rebels hacked off the limbs of many of their victims.
Human rights advocates say the case is a reminder that even the most powerful do not enjoy impunity.
Taylor, who was president of Liberia from 1997 to 2003, was accused of backing and giving orders to Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in the 11-year civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone.
'Murder and mayhem'
The prosecution alleged the RUF undermined a ceasefire agreement in 1999, prolonging the war for another three years, and that Taylor financed their war effort with the proceeds of "blood diamonds" mined illegally in Sierra Leone.
"The Taylor verdict is a watershed moment," Richard Dekker, head of the international justice program at Human Rights Watch, said before the tribunal announced its decision. "As president, Taylor is believed to have been responsible for so much murder and mayhem which unfolded in Sierra Leone. His was a shadow that loomed across the region, in the Ivory Coast, in Sierra Leone and Liberia."
Issouf Sanogo / AFP - Getty Images, file
A young Revolutionary United Front (RUF) fighter poses near Freetown, Sierra Leone, on May 25, 1997.
Taylor denied all of the charges.
The crimes of the RUF were not in doubt. Courts have earlier convicted RUF fighters of crimes against humanity, including rape, torture and terrorism.
Civilians were mutilated during the conflict, their arms being cut off above the hand (known by fighters as "long sleeves") or above the elbow ("short sleeves").
Pregnant women shot
Trial witnesses described seeing children and pregnant women being shot, disemboweled or mutilated in a process aimed at creating terror in the civilian population.
But the challenge was to link Taylor to these crimes.
"The accused never set foot in Sierra Leone when these crimes were being committed. He never directly, physically committed these crimes," Brenda Hollis, the court's chief prosecutor, told Reuters before the verdict.
"In a domestic case, you have to prove there was a murder, we have the added level of proving linkage."
This was the reason the supermodel Naomi Campbell was summoned to give testimony to the court in 2010.
Naomi Campbell delivered potentially critical evidence against former president of Liberia, Charles Taylor when she revealed he sent her a bag of rough diamonds after a dinner more than 10 years ago. NBC's Martin Fletcher discusses how this can affect the trial of a man who once denied ever dealing with the gemstone.
The prosecution alleged Taylor had sent uncut diamonds to her hotel room after a dinner given by former South African president Nelson Mandela, attended by both her and Taylor. She told the court she had no idea who had sent her the diamonds, which she called "dirty little pebbles."
Taylor is likely to appeal, meaning the trial could easily last for another six months.
Into the jungle on the hunt for Joseph Kony
Taylor is expected to serve time in a British maximum security prison. That will contrast sharply with the comparatively luxurious life Taylor enjoys in detention in The Hague. His case was moved there because of fears that his security could not be guaranteed in Sierra Leone.
In The Hague, Taylor has been free to mix with his fellow inmates and he has maintained "cordial" relations with his old enemy Laurent Gbagbo, the former Ivory Coast leader who faces charges of crimes against humanity.
Taylor has also been known to cook and compare defense briefs with Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo.
As he awaited the verdict, he immersed himself in study of the Jewish faith, to which he converted before arriving in The Hague. He has regular visits from a rabbi and does not receive his lawyers on the Sabbath.
The Associated Press, Reuters and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.
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Finally some truth and justice. The RUF make the KKK look like school boys.
Genocide - terrorism - control by fear - crimes against humanity. All still going on in the world. This is just another hollow victory in a chain of events that people should have stood against and stopped before 50,000 needlessly died. When will we ever learn?
potable...we are talking Blacks here, duh!!
I'm not going to say what I think they should do with this guy. Because if I did I would have no defence when people started calling me a sick bastard.
When I first glanced at the headline I thought it read "Ex-Librarian President" which sounded very strange. Then I drank some coffee and put my brain back in my head...
That's pretty good Ann. Something I can relate to.
Pat Robertson plays with the devil to make money!!!!
Prosecutor: Pat Robertson Had Gold Deal with African Dictator
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/pat-robertsons-gold-deal-african-dictator/story?id=9749341
Charles Taylor: Pat Robertson was my man in Washington
http://turtlebay.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/02/05/charles_taylor_pat_robertson_was_my_man_in_washington
Pat Robertson Slams Bush On Liberia
http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-201_162-562915.html
Time to try Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld................
and Obama, and Holder.
Justice!
And now for the Rothschild/Rockefeller/Kissinger/Soros/etc. bankster cult and their controlled politicians past and present (both sides of the political circus) along with the "mainstream" media heads who make Taylor look like a petty criminal!
Burn in hell
who cares if his security "cannot be guaranteed"? MY security cannot be guaranteed on a day-to-day business, why should his be? Let him fend for himself like he left so many of his victims to do.
How sad that so many posting on this site need to try use this story to compare to Bush/Cheney or Obama. There is NO comparison. Saddam Hussein committed similar atrocities on his people and there was a belief – by people in BOTH parties – that believed he was developing WMD’s, so the decision was made to start military action. It was supported by key people in BOTH parties. If you want to hate Bush/Cheney that is your right, but history and facts are not on your side reagrding the military action in Iraq, so give it up – you sound just as stupid as the birthers…
Charles Taylor’s rebel forces decimated Liberia and executed tens of thousands of innocent people – including pregnant women and children, and many were executed in front of children. In addition to the tens of thousands that were killed there are still over 60,000 refugees spread around the world that may soon be forced to go back to a country that is still far from being rebuilt to the level it was before the military coup. Living conditions in many areas a substandard, violent crime occurs throughout Liberia with foreigners being
the main target for robbery and kidnapping. There is a high incidence of sexual assault, with an increasing number of expatriate victims, and the police forces are significantly under-manned with limited resources.
There isn’t a punishment severe for Charles Taylor to pay for his actions. This ruling is LONG overdue!
...and who contributed; according to her own mouth, $10,000 to that cause that"decimated Liberia and executed tens of thousands of innocent people – including pregnant women and children" that later spilled over the neighboring Africa countries around Liberia? Was it not Ellen Johnson Sirleaf? According to local and international laws, are people not guilty by association? So, is the planner and financier; Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, not as guilty as Charles Taylor, executioner? The ICC is a joke. It is the backdoor in which the West prosecute leaders from poor third countries that had fallen out of favor. African leaders must use the Taylor trial to withdraw from the ICC and must do it now... and oh, the United States is not part of the ICC. That is why GWB is sipping on Strawberry Smoothie in Crawford Texas after killing Iraqis.
trout... actually, Bush lives in a $2M home in an exclusive suburb of Dallas, which is guaded by the Secret Service. Word on the street is that neighbors are getting sick and tired of getting stop and searched to make sure the number of feet match the number of shoes!!!
George W. Bush and Dick Cheney should be next to go on trial.
Obama broke his promise.
good lord, which promise of the 89453578345 he made to get elected?
It is all in the LIEberal "defensive talking points handbook" pocket edition...
She didn't mind the diamonds she got.
I don’t support Taylor’s actions during the Liberian civil war or if he was actually in control of the RUF. What I
have problem with is selective justice system spearheaded by the United States in the form of the UN. Charles Taylor didn’t launch the war that spilled over to Sierra Leone all by himself. The woman [Ellen Johnson Sirleaf] who helped financed the war that brought untold death to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Ivory Coast was handpicked by the United States to become the Liberian president. And oh, by the way, George W. Bush is
sipping on Strawberry Smoothie in Crawford Texas.
Interesting accusations msnBsee, how about some documentation...?
Have you seen the documentation of the WMD that led Bush to invade Iraqi? Did Bush found WMD? You have the evidence that there was one?
That's it just one guy gets charged and convicted?
Where are his bankers and supporters?
Where are his business partners?
Nobody gets anywhere by themselves, he had help.
i guess he's the sin eater.
And what did Naomi do with that bag? And when there is Bush turn? And when Blair's turn? And ...
if TAYLOR was WHITE this would probably have been dismissed. iwould like to see BUSH and CHENY's faces as they sat in the BOX to be charged!
That the court found him not guilty for anything just proves the UN and the 'world' court are spineless.
He will probably never see a day in jail, he AND HIS WIFE will keep the blood money and diamonds, and will probably live like a king in some muslim country (like Idi Amin, Papa Doc, Baby Doc, ...)
And where is Nicolas Cage in all this?!?! He supplied the guy with guns for years!
All those guys sitting around together in The Hague; um, why bother with expensive trials if they are all right there and can be dealt with at once?
Next up Bush and Chaney!!!
The International Criminal Court, uses the same grounds for prosecuting international crimes as the US government does. The US government uses selective prosecution as does the ICC. If you have large amounts of wealth and a neclear weapons based military you are not going to court in either the ICC or in the US no matter what your crime. You only have to look at the Bush administration, used torture, it was ok with the ICC and the republican supreme court. How much justice can you afford today.
Too bad there was no mention of what those diamonds were really being used for, namely al-Queda being able to move money around. The links between Charles Taylor and Osama bin Laden are well-known. And there is no better way to move a massive amount of money from Point A to Point B than diamonds. There's always a buyer, and discretion is the first, second, and third order of business when you talk about deals for diamonds. Charles Taylor was effectively Osama bin Laden's central banker.
this is why the media is incapable of objective news reporting. they are more interested in sensationalizing stories to get readers.. a few years ago someone did a stupid thing and every media outlet mentioned a billion times that he's Nigerian, even tried to create a nickname that he's nigerian, they traveled to Nigeria to interview his school mates, it didn't matter that he was radicalised in the UK, that didn't make for good readership...
now not a single news outlet will mention how Nigeria was instrumental to ending the wars in Liberia and Sierra leone, militarilly and politically...and how unlike Pakistan, Nigeria actually caught this guy hiding and took him to the ICC...... lets all praise the judges in this case, the nigerian army men that died trying to end the wars dont matter... the secret service agents that caught the guy are not significant...no use mentioning that this one one of ECOMOG's prime successes
it seems to me that it pays to demonize africa
Does anyone recall the support that "reverend" Pat Robertson expressed for ole Chucky because Pat put a lot of $ into the diamond mines? IIRC Pat pumped a lot of $ to ole Chucky.... why isn't that little liar on trial too?