Former Liberian President Charles Taylor insisted during his sentencing hearing at the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) on Wednesday that he was saddened by the atrocities and crimes committed in Sierra Leone, and denied aiding the rebels who committed the abuses.
Taylor told the SCSL judges in The Hague, where the Court is based, that he felt "sadness and deepest sympathy for the atrocities and crimes that were suffered by individuals and families in Sierra Leone."
In his last chance to address the court before being sentenced later this month, Taylor insisted that he was innocent of the charges and accused the prosecution of bribing and intimidating witnesses to testify against him. He said money had played a "corrupting, influential, significant and dominant role" in his trial.
He also pleaded the judges to consider his age while making their decision, adding that "reconciliation and healing and not retribution should be the guiding principles in your honors' task" in determining his sentence.
In response, prosecutor Brenda Hollis told the court about Taylor's "willing and enthusiastic participation" in the crimes. Stressing that Taylor's "leadership positions and betrayal of positions of trust" were sufficient to justify a long sentence that reflects the essential role the defendant "played in crimes of such extreme scope and gravity." She recommended 80 years of jail for Taylor.
International judges at the Hague court in April had found Taylor guilty of aiding and abetting war crimes during the Sierra Leone civil war. The court ruled that Taylor was guilty of planning the killing of tens of thousands by rebels during Sierra Leone's 1991-2002 civil war, but not guilty of ordering the crimes. He is due to be sentenced on May 30.
Taylor was accused of having armed and supported rebel groups in neighboring Sierra Leone in an effort to seize control of the country's diamond mines. The diamonds from Sierra Leone's mines are infamously known as "blood diamonds," since the precious stones were sold to fund the country's bloody civil war.
He faced 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including terrorism, murder, rape, torture and using child soldiers. If he is handed down a prison term when sentenced on May 30, Taylor would be imprisoned in the United Kingdom.
Taylor had rejected the charges and denied any involvement in the atrocities committed by the RUF rebels. Taylor also maintained throughout the trial that he only wanted to bring peace and restore democracy in Sierra Leone.
Taylor was the first African leader to be tried by an international court. He was the President of Liberia from 1997 to 2003, and went to exile in Nigeria in 2003 after being ousted in a rebellion. He lived in Nigeria until the Nigerian government eventually handed him over to the tribunal under heavy international pressure.
The Special Court for Sierra Leone is a joint project of Sierra Leone and the United Nations, and its mandate is limited to trying only "those who bear greatest responsibility for atrocities committed in Sierra Leone."
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