Charles Taylor awaits Sierra Leone atrocities judgement

International judges are due to give a verdict in the war crimes trial of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor.

Mr Taylor has been on trial at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, sitting in The Hague, for almost five years.

He is accused of backing rebels who killed tens of thousands during Sierra Leone's 1991-2002 civil war. They were notorious for using child soldiers and hacking off the limbs of civilians.

Mr Taylor denies 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The BBC's Mark Doyle in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, says that if Charles Taylor is found guilty and given a long prison term, Sierra Leone will breathe a collective sigh of relief; if he is acquitted, this country - and the whole West African region - will tremble with fear. .

hamsky: It will be very fair to see him die for the tragedy he made to other peoples lives both in Liberia and sierra leone.

LEIDSCHENDAM, Netherlands — In a historic ruling, an international court has convicted former Liberian President Charles Taylor of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity for supporting notoriously brutal Sierra Leone rebels in return for blood diamonds.

Presiding Judge Richard Lussick said Thursday the 64-year-old warlord-turned-president provided arms, ammunition, communications equipment and planning to rebels responsible for countless atrocities in the 1991-2002 Sierra Leone civil war. Lussick called the support “sustained and significant.”

Taylor stood and showed no emotion as Lussick delivered 11 guilty verdicts. A sentence will be imposed later.

Taylor had pleaded not guilty to 11 counts, including murder, rape, terror and conscripting child soldiers.

cap28: Why is the cia not in the dock wth him? After all they funded trained and armed him, they also assistd him wth smugglng of diamonds, how did he escape frm maximum security prisn in boston only to show up later as the president of liberia? The only black man in the history of the amercn prsn system to escape successfully frm a maximum security prisn!

free2ryhme: did they prosecute George Bush senior and Margret Thatcher for war crimes? This Kangaroo Hague court sef they would not fail to amuse us. They bark @ Leaders of Developed countries and bite leadership of 3rd world countries

cap28: Why is the cia not in the dock wth him? After all they funded trained and armed him, they also assistd him wth smugglng of diamonds, how did he escape frm maximum security prisn in boston only to show up later as the president of liberia? The only black man in the history of the amercn prsn system to escape successfully frm a maximum security prisn!

Reference:

Who is the CIA.

kalokalo: The International Criminal Court is a kangaroo court that carries out the foreign policy agenda of Western Powers. When are they going to try and convict George Bush, Tony Blair, Donald Rumsfeld, Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Dick Cheney, Dick Cheney, Barack Obama and other war criminals that roam the world free?

1) Who armed, trained and financed the Contras in Nicaragua with hundreds of thousands murdered?
2) Who armed, trained and financed the Libyan rebels that committed crimes against humanity on defenseless Libyans and black Africans?
3) Who is arming, training and financing the armed terrorists destroying Syria at the moment?
4) Who is responsible for the destruction and balkanization of the old Yugoslavia?
5) Who is responsible for the assassination and overthrow of over 20 democratically elected leaders of other nations.
6) Who is responsible fro arming and financing both sides of the Iran-Iraq war
7) Who Supplied Saddam Hussein with the chemical and biological weapons used to gas the Kurds in the eighties for which he was hanged?
Who is responsible for the untold horror of deaths (in millions) sanctioned by NATO nations against weak independent nations due to wars and economic blockades?
9) Who is arming and propping up tyrannical dictatorships like Saudi, Bahrain, Qatar, despite their repression of their own people for pecuniary natural resource interests?
10) Who is supplying Israel with white phosphorus used as cluster bombs that is causing untold birth defects, cancers and baby deaths among Palestinians in a bid to depopulate them?
11) Who is responsible for heinous crimes too numerous to mention implemented under pretexts of bringing democracy and 'humanitarian intervention'?
12) Who has as much blood on their hands as US presidents with their EU/NATO satellites to act with impunity in their never ending wars on weak independent nations that refuse to tow their line?

Why have they refused to implement the Nuremberg Statutes that declare aggression against other nations as the Supreme International Crime punishable. Between 1945 and today, US presidents have invaded more than 25 countries, with at least 3 in the last decade. Millions have been killed and sovereign nations destroyed.

kalokalo: The International Criminal Court is a kangaroo court that carries out the foreign policy agenda of Western Powers. When are they going to try and convict George Bush, Tony Blair, Donald Rumsfeld, Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Dick Cheney, Dick Cheney, Barack Obama and other war criminals that roam the world free?

1) Who armed, trained and financed the Contras in Nicaragua with hundreds of thousands murdered?
2) Who armed, trained and financed the Libyan rebels that committed crimes against humanity on defenseless Libyans and black Africans?
3) Who is arming, training and financing the armed terrorists destroying Syria at the moment?
4) Who is responsible for the destruction and balkanization of the old Yugoslavia?
5) Who is responsible for the assassination and overthrow of over 20 democratically elected leaders of other nations.
6) Who is responsible fro arming and financing both sides of the Iran-Iraq war
7) Who Supplied Saddam Hussein with the chemical and biological weapons used to gas the Kurds in the eighties for which he was hanged?
Who is responsible for the untold horror of deaths (in millions) sanctioned by NATO nations against weak independent nations due to wars and economic blockades?
9) Who is arming and propping up tyrannical dictatorships like Saudi, Bahrain, Qatar, despite their repression of their own people for pecuniary natural resource interests?
10) Who is supplying Israel with white phosphorus used as cluster bombs that is causing untold birth defects, cancers and baby deaths among Palestinians in a bid to depopulate them?
11) Who is responsible for heinous crimes too numerous to mention implemented under pretexts of bringing democracy and 'humanitarian intervention'?
12) Who has as much blood on their hands as US presidents with their EU/NATO satellites to act with impunity in their never ending wars on weak independent nations that refuse to tow their line?

Why have they refused to implement the Nuremberg Statutes that declare aggression against other nations as the Supreme International Crime punishable. Between 1945 and today, US presidents have invaded more than 25 countries, with at least 3 in the last decade. Millions have been killed and sovereign nations destroyed.

Yeske!:
His greed and lust for wealth and power caused it. Why couldn't he train the CIA to do same in America?

cap28: Why is the cia not in the dock wth him? After all they funded trained and armed him, they also assistd him wth smugglng of diamonds, how did he escape frm maximum security prisn in boston only to show up later as the president of liberia? The only black man in the history of the amercn prsn system to escape successfully frm a maximum security prisn!