Taylor, impassive in a dark suit and gold-
rimmed sunglasses, listened as his
sentence was confirmed by Mr Justice
George Gelaga King, the president of the
United Nations appeals chamber.
Taylor, 65, was found guilty last year of 11
counts of war crimes, including murder,
rape, torture and the enslavement of child
soldiers. These offences were carried out in
Sierra Leone by a brutal guerrilla army,
styling itself the Revolutionary United Front
(RUF). Taylor gave the RUF guns, training
and recruits in return for diamonds - which
made him responsible for “aiding and
abetting” their atrocities, ruled the UN
Special Court.
Under a current agreement, Taylor, 65, will
be jailed in Britain for 50 years, for arming
and supporting rebels in Liberia's
neighbour Sierra Leone during the brutal
1990s civil war after United Nations judges
threw out his legal challenge.
Justice Gelaga King, a Sierra Leone judge
and president of the appeals chamber of
the special UN tribunal set up to investigate
crimes in his country, delivered a judgment
summary that took one hour and 15
minutes to read out.
"The sentence is fair in the light of the
totality of the crimes committed," said the
judge. "The defence failed to demonstrate
any discernable errors in the trial
chamber's sentencing."
Taylor will serve his sentence in Britain
where he is expected to be a “category A”
inmate fit only for a maximum-security
prison. If so, the cost to the British
taxpayer will be up to £80,000 per year.
Asking Taylor to rise, Justice Gelaga King
said: "The appeal chamber affirms the
original 50 years of imprisonment imposed
by the trial, and orders this judgement
should be enforced immediately."
Wearing a black double breasted suit, gold
coloured tie, gold cufflinks and gold-
rimmed sunglasses, Taylor remained
impassive.
UN judges found Taylor guilty of 11 counts
of war crimes and crimes against humanity,
including murder, rape, torture and the use
of child soldiers and of "aiding and
abetting" a campaign of terror by Sierra
Leone rebels during a civil war that claimed
120,000 lives between 1991 and 2001.
"Charles Taylor is the first former head of
state to be convicted of war crimes by an
international criminal tribunal since
Nuremburg in 1946," said Brenda Hollis,
the UN prosecutor.
"This sentence makes it clear that those
responsible for criminal conduct will be
severely punished. No sentence less than
50 years would have been enough to
achieve retribution and deterrence."
The former Liberian leader and warlord is
expected to be moved to Belmarsh Prison
over the coming days before being
transferred to a maximum security jail later
this autumn.
Morris Anyah, his defence lawyer, is
planning an application to Justice Galega
King that Taylor "might not serve his
sentence in the UK, which has offered".
The defence wants Taylor to be imprisoned
in Rwanda, where other people convicted
by the UN court for Sierra Leone have been
jailed, because he would be nearer his
family and would not be "removed from
traditions and culture".
"Mr Taylor has young children who might
not be used to cold weather in Europe.
There are issues with the food," said Mr
Anyah. "He expressed his view that the
next phase of life is to see how to preserve
his contact with his family and ensure that
his younger children are provided for."
The final decision on sending Taylor to the
UK will be taken in the coming days with
Finland or Sweden said to be other
possibilities at the discretion of the UN
judge.
The final decision on sending Taylor to the
UK will be taken anytime between "the next
couple of days or two weeks" with Finland
or Sweden said to be other possibilities at
the discretion of the UN judges.
"The president of the court decides on the
basis of information and other
considerations. The UK is an option and
there is an agreement," a court official told
The Telegraph.
The judgment is an historic one at a time of
high-profile international court cases
involving African leaders because Taylor's
conviction is the first of a head of state for
war crimes since the Nazi trials at
Nuremburg 67 years ago.
During his trial, Naomi Campbell, the
supermodel, and Mia Farrow, the film
actress, gave important evidence about
gifts of "dirty" diamonds given by Taylor
at a celebrity charity dinner hosted by then
South African president Nelson Mandela in
1997.
The UN appeal court found that war crimes
carried out by Sierra Leone rebels, the RUF,
were inextricably linked to their military
aims, to instil "fear, by killing, enslaving
and raping".
The appeal judge ruled that the "factual
basis" for Taylor's support for the rebels
"has been confirmed" and that he had
traded diamonds with them in return for
arms.
The appeal judge also upheld trial rulings
that Taylor had helped provide the rebels
with military personnel logistical support,
including finances, arms, safe havens and
other supplies. The UN court found that
Taylor had told rebels to make the
population "fearful" and to use "all means"
during military operations.
In a significant ruling for international
law, the appeal judges rejected an
attempt by Taylor's lawyers to use
recent rulings in UN courts acquitting
former Serbian military commanders
not found to have committed "specifically
direct" war crimes.
His legal team used the acquittal in
February of Momcilo Perisic, a Serb
general, whose 27-year sentence for war
crimes committed during the wars of the
1990s in the former Yugoslavia was
overturned.
"The appeal chamber is not persuaded that
there are cogent reasons to depart from
the trial chamber findings," said the judge.
"The appeal chamber concludes that
specific direction is not needed."
In General Perisic's case, UN judges at a
different tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
found that it necessary for prosecutors to
establish "specific direction" in the
commissioning or committing of war crimes
to establishing guilt and to uphold prison
convictions.
In a major blow for Taylor, the UN appeal
judges rejected defence arguments that the
prosecution had relied on "uncorroborated
hearsay" from witnesses, ruling that the
balance of evidence was sufficient
"The defence bases its challenge on legally
erroneous reasons or objections," said the
judge.
"The trial chamber applied the rules of the
evaluation beyond a reasonable doubt. The
appeals chamber finds no merit in the
evidential submissions."
Claims that by Taylor that the UN trial court
was biased and unfair was rejected by the
appeal judges as "unsupported,
disingenuous and ludicrous".
The appeal judges rejected calls earlier this
year from prosecutors for the special UN
tribunal to find him guilty of additional
charges of ordering and instigating war
crimes, increasing his prison sentence to 80
years.
The UN prosecutors were concerned that a
lesser jail sentence will fail to send a
message to African leaders that
involvement in atrocities or war crimes will
be punished by whole life sentences in
foreign prisons.
Judges rejected arguments from the
prosecution that the trial court made a
mistake by only convicting Taylor of aiding
and abetting Sierra Leone's notorious
Revolutionary United Front and other rebel
groups.
"In this case, the trial chamber did not err
in law," said judge Gelaga King.
The UN court ruled last year that Taylor
helped rebels in Sierra Leone with the
preparation and execution of crimes that
"resulted directly from (his) plans" but that
he did not command their execution or
instigate them.
Taylor had pleaded not guilty to all counts,
claiming in seven months of testimony in
his own defence that he was a statesman
and peacemaker in West Africa.
During Taylor's trial which began proper on
June 4, 2007, some 94 witnesses took the
stand for the prosecution and 21 for the
defence. Taylor himself testified for 81
hours.
Judges heard gruesome testimony from
victims of the Sierra Leone conflict,
including a witness who said he pleaded
with RUF rebels to cut off his remaining
hand so they would spare his toddler son.
Others said Taylor's fighters strung human
intestines across roads, removed foetuses
from women's wombs and practised
cannibalism, while children younger than
15 were enlisted to fight. One witness said
he was present when the Liberian leader
ate human liver.
Nigerian authorities arrested Taylor in
March 2006 when he tried to flee from exile
in Nigeria after stepping down as Liberian
president three years earlier in a
negotiated end to a civil war in his own
country.
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