Court Tells Former Liberian President to Serve War Crimes Sentence in Britain
March 25, 2015
Ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor has been ordered to serve the rest of his jail term in the UK, after losing a request to be transferred to Rwanda.
The special court for Sierra Leone has denied the former Liberian president Charles Taylor's request to serve his 50-year sentence for war crimes in Rwanda, rather than Britain.
Taylor was convicted in April 2012 of 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for aiding murderous rebels in Sierra Leone's civil war.
Taylor argued that detention in Britain violates his rights because the visa process will make it nearly impossible for his family to visit. He also complained about the conditions of his detention.
The court denied his request in a decision made public on Wednesday, saying Britain's denial of his family's visa application did not violate his rights.
It said that his wife simply had not met visa requirements and had ignored offers to help her to reapply.
Taylor timeline
- 1989: Launches rebellion in Liberia
- 1991: Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebellion starts in Sierra Leone
- 1997: Elected president after a 1995 peace deal
- 1999: Rebels take up arms against Taylor
- June 2003: Arrest warrant issued; two months later he steps down and goes into exile in Nigeria
- March 2006: Arrested after a failed escape bid and sent to Sierra Leone
- June 2007: His trial opens - hosted in The Hague for security reasons
- April 2012: Convicted of aiding and abetting the commission of war crimes - later sentenced to 50 years in jail
Oct 2013: Arrives in the UK to serve the remainder of his sentence
Taylor was convicted on 11 charges including terrorism, rape, murder and the use of child soldiers by rebel groups in neighbouring Sierra Leone during the 1991-2002 civil war, in which some 50,000 people died.
The former Liberian leader was found to have supplied weapons to the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in exchange for so-called blood diamonds.
The rebels were notorious for hacking off the limbs of civilians to terrorise the population.
Taylor has always insisted he is innocent and that his only contact with the rebels was to urge them to stop fighting.
Source: Compilied by GMB StaffGlobal Media Buzz
