Africa LIBERIA: Charles Taylor sent to prison in the United Kingdom On Tuesday, former President Charles Taylor was transferred from the Special Court in the Netherlands to the United Kingdom to serve his 50-year sentence for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Taylor was convicted on April 26, 2012 for 11 counts of war crimes against humanity and other violations of international humanitarian law, and he received his sentence on May 30, 2012. Comment: The 75 year-old Taylor requested permission to serve his sentence in Rwanda so that his family could visit more easily and because he feared prison attacks in the UK; however, no other nation accepted the responsibility of jailing Taylor. Taylor was arrested on March 26, 2006 for charges of aiding and abetting rebels in Sierra Leon during the civil war in the 1990s in which 50,000 people died and thousands were mutilated. Taylor is the first former head of state to be convicted by an international war crimes court since WWII. (New Democrat, Special Court for Sierra Leone, BBC)
Posted on: Sun, 20 Oct 2013 09:37:16 +0000
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