(26 Sep 2013) More than a decade after he helped rebels go on a murderous rampage in Sierra Leone, Liberia's former president Charles Taylor was definitively convicted and imprisoned on Thursday for 50 years.
The appeals chamber of the Special Court for Sierra Leone kept Taylor's conviction on 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including terrorism, murder, rape and using child soldiers.
The ruling provided redemption for victims and underscored how hard it is for the international criminal courts to prosecute world leaders.
The court found Taylor provided crucial aid to rebels in Sierra Leone during that country's 11-year civil war, which left an estimated 50,000 people dead before its conclusion in 2002.
Thousands more were left mutilated in a conflict that became known for its extreme cruelty, as rival rebel groups hacked off the limbs of their victims and carved their groups' initials into opponents.
Back in Sierra Leone, Edward Conteh, who lost his lower left arm when rebels chopped it off with an axe, said he was elated with Taylor's conviction.
"From 1982, I have stopped drinking but today I'm going to take two pints (of beer) then I do not have a hand to join to cause noise, but I will use my legs to celebrate," he said.
Conteh, who today leads an organisation that aids war amputees, said Taylor's sentence closed a chapter but that some 2,000 people still live with amputations and other serious injuries from the war.
Many live in abject poverty with little means to support their families.
Student Susan Yanson said justice had been done although Taylor's victims expected harder punishment.
"People have hated him so much and even the hearts of the women, the children who were raped, the boys who have been ex-combatants, and the impact has impinged on them so they thought that more harder justice should have been given to Charles Taylor than this one," she said.
But Taylor supporters in Liberia remained loyal to the former warlord who was later democratically elected the country's president.
"Looking at Taylor going to prison, that can't solve our (Liberians) problem," said commercial motorcyclist Josiah Varnie.
"My message to the international community is to reason, please. Let them have him freed. Let him (Taylor) come back to his country and with a warning. Let him not take part in politics and remain mute and to contribute to the development of the Liberian (development agenda) process."
The 65 year old is the first former head of state convicted by an international war crimes court since World War II.
Thursday's confirmation was welcomed as underscoring a new era of accountability for heads of state.
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