Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


    April 26, 2012

Charles Taylor Convicted of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity

   VOA News
   Journalists take notes as they listen to the verdict of the trial
   against former Liberian President Charles Taylor, seen on the screen in
   the court room of the Special Court for Sierra Leone in Leidschendam,
   near The Hague, Netherlands, April 26, 2012.
   Photo: AP
   Journalists take notes as they listen to the verdict of the trial
   against former Liberian President Charles Taylor, seen on the screen in
   the court room of the Special Court for Sierra Leone in Leidschendam,
   near The Hague, Netherlands, April 26, 2012.

   Former Liberian president Charles Taylor has been found guilty of war
   crimes and crimes against humanity by a special tribunal in The Hague.
   The Special Court for Sierra Leone ruled Thursday that Taylor aided and
   abetted severe human rights abuses carried out by rebels during Sierra
   Leone's civil war.
   Presiding Judge Richard Lussick said the judges ruled unanimously that
   Taylor was guilty of murder, rape, sexual slavery, recruitment of child
   soldiers, enslavement and other crimes.
   Taylor is the first head of state to be convicted by an international
   court since the Nuremberg trial in 1946 of Karl Doenitz who briefly
   ruled Nazi Germany.
   Lussick said Taylor will be sentenced on May 30. Taylor had pleaded not
   guilty to the charges and has the right to appeal the verdict.
   Prosecutors said Taylor masterminded Sierra Leone's civil war, arming
   and assisting Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front rebels in
   exchange for "blood diamonds," mined in eastern Sierra Leone.
   Taylor was arrested and handed over to the court in 2006, three years
   after his indictment and subsequent resignation as president. The
   trial, which opened in 2007, was transferred from Freetown to The Hague
   amid regional security concerns.
   During the trial, the court heard testimony from 94 prosecution
   witnesses and 21 defense witnesses, including Taylor.
   The tribunal was established to try the most serious cases of war
   crimes rising from the Sierra Leone conflict. The Taylor case is
   expected to be the court's last major trial.

.