Charles Taylor guilty of aiding Sierra Leone war crimes
26 April 2012
Taylor, a former warlord, was elected president of Liberia in 1997Judge Richard Lussick said the court was satisfied Taylor had aided war crimes>>>
International judges have found former Liberian leader Charles Taylor guilty of aiding and abetting war crimes during the Sierra Leone civil war.
Taylor, 64, has been on trial in The Hague at the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone for almost five years.
He was accused of backing rebels who killed tens of thousands of people in Sierra Leone's 1991-2002 civil war.
Taylor was convicted on 11 counts including terror, murder and rape - but cleared of ordering the crimes.
He is the first former head of state convicted by an international court since the Nuremburg military tribunal of Nazis after World War II.
Human rights groups described the judgement as historic. Full Story>>>
