THE HAGUE — Former Liberian president Charles Taylor was found “criminally responsible” Thursday for aiding and abetting rebels who committed war crimes during the brutal Sierra Leone civil war.
The 64-year-old became the first head of state to be convicted in connection with war crimes in an international court — at a special trial at Leidschendam in The Hague — since the end of World War II.
Presiding Judge Richard Lussick said the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Taylor was part of a joint criminal enterprise or that he was individually responsible for some of the crimes committed in Sierra Leone.
He added that Taylor had substantial influence over the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), but this fell short of effective command and control.
Taylor was found guilty of aiding and abetting terrorism, murder, violence, rape, sexual slavery, outrages on personal dignity, inhumane acts, conscripting children into armed forces, enslaving and pillage.
Judge Lussick said, “People were beheaded and their heads displayed at checkpoints … one civilian was killed in view of the public, disembowelled and his intestines stretched across the road to make a checkpoint.”
The former president was accused of funding the RUF rebels through the sale of illegally mined diamonds — so-called “blood diamonds.”
Taylor has until May 10 to appeal the convictions, and is due to be sentenced on May 16. He is set to serve any jail time in Britain, but is likely to face a shorter sentence than if he had been found guilty of directing the rebels’ actions.
The US State Department said Taylor’s conviction “delivers a strong message” to all war criminals.
Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, “The Taylor prosecution at the Special Court delivers a strong message to all perpetrators of atrocities, including those in the highest positions of power, that they will be held accountable.”
British foreign secretary William Hague welcomed the verdict.
He said, “This landmark verdict demonstrates that those who have committed the most serious of crimes can and will be held to account for their actions; it demonstrates that the reach of international law is long and not time limited and it demonstrates that heads of state cannot hide behind immunity.”
In 2007, then British foreign secretary Margaret Beckett pledged to lock up Taylor in Britain if he was convicted. The pledge was part of a deal to put him on trial in the Netherlands to avoid destabilizing Sierra Leone.
A spokesman for the Foreign Office said Thursday, “How strong the verdict is will determine the category of prison he is held in. It is also part of the role that Britain played in bringing peace to Sierra Leone and to developing those bilateral relations.”
More than 120,000 people were killed during the brutal civil war in Sierra Leone between 1991 and 2002. The RUF rebel soldiers — many trained in Libya — committed atrocities including rape, the use of enslaved child soldiers and amputations as a weapon of terror.
The trial began in 2007, but was completed in March last year. Some 94 witnesses gave evidence.
Among them was supermodel Naomi Campbell, who testified that she received a gift of “dirty” diamonds from Taylor at a charity dinner hosted by then South African president Nelson Mandela.