Appeal judges at the Special Court of Sierra Leone On Thursday endorsed the 50-year sentence of former Liberian President Charles Taylor after his landmark conviction for aiding murderous rebels in Sierra Leone’s civil war.
Appeals Chamber judges at Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) in The Hague resolved that former Liberian president Charles Taylor should spend most of his life in jail.
The 65-year-old former head of state was convicted in May 2012 for crimes that included terrorism, murder, rape and using child soldiers.
He was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Taylor was convicted in April 2012 by the SCSL’s Trial Chamber of aiding and abetting 11 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and other serious violations of international humanitarian law, committed by Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) rebel forces in Sierra Leone during the West African country’s 11 year civil conflict.
Taylor’s trial itself lasted for about four years. During the trial period the judges heard stories of RUF and AFRC rebel forces who paraded through Sierra Leone, hacking off the limbs of civilians, subjecting women and young girls to rape and other forms of sexual violence, and of drugged child soldiers who were ordered to kill civilians with guns and machetes.
Charles McArthur Ghankay Taylor was born on 28 January 1948 in Arthington, Montserrado County in Liberia. He was Liberia’s 22nd President of Liberia, serving from 2 August 1997 until his resignation on 11 August 2003.
Taylor was educated at Bentley College in the United States earned a degree before returning to Liberia to work in the government of Samuel Doe the then president of Liberia.
He trained as a guerrilla fighter in Libya and returned to Liberia in 1989 as the head of a Libyan-backed resistance group, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia. He launched an uprising from Ivory Coast to overthrow the Samuel Doe regime, the then president of Liberia.
This initiated the First Liberian Civil War (1989–96).
Charles Taylor gained control of a large portion of the country. A peace deal was signed and in 1997 general election he was elected president.
During his term of office, Taylor was accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity as a result of his involvement in the Sierra Leone Civil War (1991–2002).
Opposition to his regime grew domestically culminating in the outbreak of the Second Liberian Civil War (1999–2003).
By 2003, he lost control of much of the countryside and was formally indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone. He resigned that year, as a result of growing international pressure and went into exile in Nigeria.
In 2006, the newly elected President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf formally requested his extradition. He was detained by UN authorities in Sierra Leone and then at the Penitentiary Institution Haaglanden in The Hague, awaiting trial.
Judges heard stories of the role that “blood diamonds” played in Sierra Leone’s conflict.
According to witness testimony, Sierra Leonean rebel forces transferred diamonds to Taylor in return for arms and ammunition.
In convicting Taylor of aiding and abetting crimes in Sierra Leone, the judges found that Taylor provided arms and ammunition, military personnel as well as operational and moral support to the rebel forces in Sierra Leone.
The judges were convinced that without these forms of support from Taylor many of the crimes would not have been committed and the conflict in the country would have ended earlier.
Judges also said Taylor was guilty of planning RUF and AFRC attacks, including the invasion of the country’s capital Freetown in early 1999.
In their verdict, judges called Taylor a “two-headed janus” who publicly proclaimed peace while secretly supporting the rebels to commit atrocities.
In his statement of judgement, Presiding Judge Richard Lussick said:
“The accused has been found responsible for aiding and abetting as well as planning some of the most heinous and brutal crimes recorded in human history.”
However, the judges rejected the prosecution’s theory that Taylor was in a position of command and control over the rebels.
Judges were also not convinced that Taylor ordered or instigated the commission of crimes, as alleged by the prosecution.
In May 2012, the judges sentenced Taylor to a jail term of 50 years. The prosecution had originally asked for a jail term of 80 years.
He appealed the judgment of the Trial Chamber on 42 grounds. In his appeal, Taylor did not only argue against the grounds on which he was convicted, but also called his 50 year jail term “manifestly unreasonable.”
The prosecutors raised four grounds of appeal, including asking for an increase in Taylor’s 50 year jail term.
His defence lawyers had wanted an appeal judgment that overturns a Trial Chamber decision that Taylor helped in planning the rebel attacks in specific parts of the country, including Freetown.
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