Charles Taylor at his court sentencing today
Former Liberian president Charles Taylor
has been sentenced by Judges at an international war crimes court to 50
years in prison for war crimes during the civil war in Sierra Leone.
The sentence was made today Wednesday, May 30, 2012.
Last month Taylor was found guilty 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 multiple offences including murder, rape,
sexual slavery, recruiting child soldiers, enforced amputations and
pillage.
Presiding Judge Richard Lussick described Taylor’s crimes as the ‘utmost gravity in terms of scale and brutality’.
‘The lives of many more innocent
civilians in Sierra Leone were lost or destroyed as a direct result of
his actions’, Judge Lussick said. Taylor is said to have shown no
emotions as he was handed down the sentence.
The 64-year-old
warlord-turned-president’s sentence is likely to be served in the UK,
which has offered to take him once his trial and appeal are completed.
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