Former Liberian President, Charles Taylor, was early on Wednesday sentenced to 50 years by the International Criminal Court, ICC in Hague Netherlands.

The sentencing was fallout of his arrest and prosecution for his role and the atrocities he committed in Sierra-Leone during its civil war in the 1990s.

He was initially allowed asylum in Nigeria by the former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He later fled the country before his subsequent arrest and prosecution.

According to the judge presiding over the sentencing Mr. Taylor had been found guilty of “aiding and abetting, as well as planning, some of the most heinous and brutal crimes recorded in human history” and that the lengthy prison term underscored his position at the top of government during that period.

“Leadership must be carried out by example by the prosecution of crimes, not the commission of crimes,” the judge, Richard Lussick, said in a statement read before the court.

Mr. Taylor was the first head of state convicted by an international court since the Nuremberg trials after World War II.

Prosecutors had sought an even longer sentence of 80 years. If carried out, the term decided on Wednesday would likely mean the 64-year-old Mr. Taylor will spend the rest of his life behind bars. Asked to stand as the sentence was read, he looked at the floor.

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