LEIDSCHENDAM, Netherlands — Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia and a once-powerful warlord, was sentenced Wednesday to 50 years in prison over his role in atrocities committed in Sierra Leone during its civil war in the 1990s.
The judge presiding over the sentencing in an international criminal court near The Hague said 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.
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 Wednesday would likely mean Taylor, 64, will spend the rest of his life behind bars. Asked to stand as the sentence was read, he looked at the floor.
His legal team said itwould appeal.
“The sentence is clearly excessive, clearly disproportionate to his circumstances, his age and his health and does not take into account the fact that he stepped down from office voluntarily,” said Morris Anya, one of the lawyers representing Taylor.
The prosecution said it was considering its own appeal, both to lengthen the sentence and to broaden the responsibility attributed to Taylor for crimes committed under his leadership.
Two rebel commanders tried earlier by the court were handed similar prison sentences of 50 and 52 years respectively, and a prosecutor said Taylor’s overall responsibility was considerably greater. The prosecutor also saidTaylor did not freely leave office but was pushed by a rebel offensive and by a delegation of African leaders urging him to stem further bloodshed.
Outside the courthouse, Salamba Silla, who workswith victims groups in Sierra Leone, pleaded for more help for former child soldiers, orphans and other victims of the country’s war.
“You can see hundreds of them begging on the streets of Freetown,” she said. “Many who suffered horrendously need help to return to the provinces, they think they cannot survive there.”
Ibrahim Sorie, a lawmaker from Sierra Leone who had been seated in the court’s public gallery, said he found the sentence fair.
“It restores our faith in the rule of law, and we see that impunity is ending for top people,” Sorie said.
After more than a year of deliberations, the Special Court for Sierra Leone found Taylor guilty in late April of crimes against humanity and war crimes for his part in fomenting mass brutality that included murder, rape, the use of child soldiers, the mutilation of thousands of civilians and the mining of diamonds to pay for guns and ammunition. Prosecutors have said Taylor was motivated in these gruesome actions not by anyideology, but rather by “pure avarice” and a thirst for power.
People maimed in the war gathered in the Sierra Leonean capital Wednesday to watch the proceedings of the Taylor trial via a live feed and rejoiced when judges in The Netherlands announced the 50-year sentence.
“That makes me the happiest person on earth,” said Alimami Kanu, whose right hand was hacked off when he was 11 years old.
The tribunal began in Sierra Leone and is still formally based there, but out of concern that holding hearings in West Africa would cause unrest among those who still support Taylor, it was moved to the town of Leidschendam outside of The Hague.
Although fighting in one of the world’s poorest regions involved Liberia and threatened to spill over into neighboring West African countries, the court’s mandate covered only those crimes in Sierra Leone between 1996 and 2002. During the trial, prosecutors introduced evidence and heard testimony of communications between Taylor’s residence in the Liberian capital, Monrovia, and the rebels in Sierra Leone.
The trial, lasting more than twice as long as planned, heard witnesses, including men with their hands chopped off, and women who were raped and who saw the severed heads of relatives. There were also close associates and aides of Taylor. One aide described a secret bonding ritual in Liberia during which he and others joined Taylor in eating a human heart.
Diamonds, as well asatrocities, were also a recurrent theme in the 2,500-page judgment. Judges agreed with the prosecution that diamonds mined in Sierra Leone were used to pay for arms and ammunition that fueled Taylor’s proxy army and that rough diamonds were delivered at Taylor’s mansion in Monrovia.
One diamond story that proved a high point of publicity for the trial involved the court appearance of supermodel Naomi Campbell. Prosecutors said Campbell had been sent uncut diamonds as a gift from Taylor after they attended a charity dinner hosted by Nelson Mandela, at the time the president of South Africa. Two of Campbell’s companions who recounted the episode in court, her agent, Carole White, and actress Mia Farrow, were repeatedly called “liars” during cross-examination by the defense.
But the judges wrote that the two women were “frank and truthful witnesses,” contrasting them with Campbell, who they called a “reluctant witness” who “deliberately omitted certain details outof fear.” They added that “Campbell said she came to the realization that the diamonds were sent by Taylor.”
Eight other leading members of different forces and rebel groups have already been sentenced by the tribunal. Taylor is the special court’s last defendant. His trial began in 2006, and since then, 115 witnesses have given testimony.
The three-panel bench, made up of judges from Uganda, Samoa and Ireland, seemed to bend over backward in giving Taylor great leeway. He spent seven months - covering 81 trial days - in the witness chair, telling his life story without ever being cut off for digressions or political statements.He said he had heard about atrocities, saying that “nobody on this planet would not have heard about the atrocities in Sierra Leone” but that he would “never, ever” have permitted them.
Information for this article was contributed by Andrew Drake, Clarence Roy-Macaulay and Jonathan Paye-Layleh of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 05/31/2012