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Charles Taylor Sentenced to 50 Years in Prison
May 30, 2012 6:30 AM
By Deena Taylor
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RAPAPORT... The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) sentenced former Liberia President Charles Taylor to a single term of 50 years in prison for aiding and abetting rebels during the long-running civil war in Sierra Leone. The court gave Taylor credit for detention time at The Hague.
Presiding judge Richard Lussick said that Taylor's war crimes conviction were of the "utmost gravity in terms of scale and brutality." During the sentencing, the court noted that Taylor benefited from the destruction and terror through the steady supply of diamonds he received in exchange for arms and ammunition.
Taylor was convicted of 11 counts of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity by supporting rebels between 1996 and 2002 in return for conflict diamonds. He was convicted of offenses such as murder, rape, sexual slavery, recruiting child soldiers, enforced amputations and pillage.
Following Taylor's sentencing, the president of the court will decide where he will serve his sentence, more than likely to be in the U.K. Prosecutors had initially called for Taylor to be given an 80 year sentence.
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Tags:
Charles Taylor, Deena Taylor, Liberia, Sierra Leone
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