Prosecutors at The Hague are demanding an 80
year prison sentence for former Liberian president, Charles Taylor, after his
conviction last week for war crimes in Sierra Leone.
During the 1990’s, Taylor backed rebels from the
country’s Revolutionary United Front, who killed tens of thousands of people, employing
a strategy, say the prosecution, of ‘murders, rapes, sexual slavery, looting’ and
hacking off of limbs. In return, he was given ‘blood
diamonds’ collected by slaves.
After his five year trial, Taylor became the first former
head of state to be convicted by an international court since the Nuremburg
trials following World War II. He has
the right to appeal against the verdict.
A former leader of the RUF, Issa Sesay, is in
prison in Rwanda, serving 52 years for his part in the atrocities. (See
also my blogs of 4 March, 15 July and 26 Oct, 2009.)
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