Liberian warlord Charles Taylor found guilty

Charles Taylor was convicted of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity for his part in arming and equipping rebels who committed some of the worst atrocities of the 1991 to 2002 civil war in Sierra Leone, during which more than 50,000 people were killed.

The former warlord, who later became president, was found guilty of 11 charges including terror, murder, rape and conscripting child soldiers in the first instance of a head of state being convicted by an international court since the post-World War II Nuremberg military tribunal.

He will be sentenced on 30 May, after a hearing on 16 May, and will serve his sentence in Britain.

Taylor, 64, stood and showed no emotion as presiding judge, Richard Lussick, delivered the verdict at the Special Court for Sierra Leone. He had denied all charges against him, claiming in seven months of testimony defending himself that he was a statesman and peacemaker in West Africa.

Accused of funding and supporting the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF), he fuelled the conflict there in exchange for “blood diamonds” mined by rebels inside the conflict zone.

The court heard that he was involved in atrocities including dismembering and torture in a campaign of terror which enabled him to plunder Sierra Leone’s diamond mines for profit and weapons trading.

Bloody conflict

Judge Lussick said that more than 1,000 children had the letters RUF carved into their backs to prevent them escaping. Children were used to amputate limbs, guard diamond mines and hunt for food, and some were involved in fighting.

“A civilian was killed in full public view and then his body was diembowelled and his intestines stretched across the road to make a checkpoint,” the judge said. “Women and girls were raped in public. People were burned alive in their homes. The trial chamber finds, beyond reasonable doubt, that the purpose of these atrocities…was to instil terror in the civilian population.”

But he was cleared of charges of planning the crimes. The judge said: “The trial chamber finds the accused cannot be held responsible for ordering the crimes. The trial chamber, having already found the accused guilty of aiding and abetting, does not find the accused also instigated these crimes.”

The verdict came after more than 100 witnesses and 50,000 pages of transcripts at the special court which was set up in the wake of Sierra Leone’s bloody civil war, in which countless people who were not killed were horribly mutilated or raped.

British and UN troops intervened to stop the brutality in 2002, along with west African forces. A year later, after his indictment, Taylor fled to Nigeria, where he was put under house arrest. In 2006, he was extradited back to Liberia where he was taken into UN custody.

The International Court for Sierra Leone was enshrined into the peace agreement which ended the conflict, with proceedings moved to The Hague to avoid any risk of regional violence. It will be the first judgement handed down on a head of state since the Nuremberg trials after World War II.

Inevitably perhaps, with such a high-profile defendant, the Taylor case has not been short of surprises. The former leader dismissed his original defence team and engaged a British QC, Courtenay Griffiths, to argue his case.

He has claimed that the whole trial is politically motivated, with no proof that Taylor knew what his rebel allies were up to.

“Taylor is being prosecuted for his foreign policy,” Griffiths said. “And I think that sets a very unwelcome precedent for weaker countries around the world.”

Naomi Campbell

The supermodel Naomi Campbell found herself among the witnesses called to testify. She was questioned about a bag of “dirty-looking stones” given to her by Taylor’s aides after a dinner hosted by Nelson Mandela in 1997.

The prosecution alleged they were some of the blood diamonds given to Taylor by rebels in exchange for funding and arms. The defence claimed this was speculation.

Much of the prosecution’s case hinges on evidence given by a group of radio operators, who allegedly kept him in contact with rebel groups.

Taylor described the accusations as “despicable lies.” He took the stand for 14 weeks of testimony, calling his trial a conspiracy by western countries to bring about his downfall.

Throughout the lengthy proceedings, Taylor was incarcerated in a prison complex on the outskirts of The Hague, where he has been regularly visited by a rabbi after apparently converting to Judaism.

He could serve out his sentence in a British high security jail. His destination will be up to the judicial panel to decide.

Yearning for justice

Either side may appeal the verdict, leading to another lengthy legal process. Meanwhile, Sierra Leone’s Justice Minister Frank Karbo said the trials had “heightened awareness that you cannot get away with impunity”, while victims and their families try to heal their wounds.

In Liberia, there has been an appeal for calm from President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who asked Liberians to pray for the nation, and for peace.

This historic trial will prove a milestone in international justice, and there are hopes it may provide a clear signal that no matter how powerful, those accused of the most heinous crimes cannot escape from the law.