Court Watch
conspiracy, incitement, complicity, and murder, whereas Mojaheed was sentenced to death.
The ICTB’s continued efforts to try war criminals of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War signifies a commitment at maintaining punitive legal mea- sures against war crimes, and despite criticisms of improper procedural justice, the tribunal has received international accolades. As ongoing tribu- nals illustrate, courts established on trying crimi- nals of specific events and conflicts in history can be immensely beneficial, especially as participants and alleged criminals of those times remain un- tried in an international court of law.
* Submitted by Steven Wu
Special Court for Sierra Leone’s Conviction of Charles Taylor Upheld
6
On September 26, 2013, the Special Court for Sier- ra Leone’s decision was upheld regarding Charles Ghankay Taylor’s conviction for his involvement in the aiding, abetting, and planning of war crimes during the Sierra Leone civil war.
Charles Taylor was a Liberian politician who, from 1989 to 1997, led the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPLF), a rebel group, to overthrow the government of former Liberian president Samuel K. Doe. Taylor then served as President of Liberia until his resignation in August 2003. Taylor ran a “patrimonial regime” in which he gave pay-offs to various ethnic, generational, communal, and com- mercial constituencies, who, in return, supported and acted in his interest. Additionally, Taylor ma- nipulated foreign firms in order to secure foreign exchange, weapons, and political support to ma- nipulate internal conflicts and to create conflict among external supporters.
Taylor blamed the continued economic and human- itarian crisis of Liberia, after the civil war from 1989 to 1995, on (a) opposition from powerful nations and (b) lack of international assistance for Liberia. Taylor explained that the opposition from powerful
nations was a ploy to interfere in the democracy of Liberia. Taylor believed the ploy consisted of fi- nancing terrorists, Liberians United for Reconcilia- tion and Democracy (LURD), who attacked Liberia; imposition of United Nations punitive sanctions for Liberia’s support of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF); and perpetuation of propaganda, disinfor- mation, and lies about him.
Taylor’s indictment stems from his role in the atrocities during the civil war in Sierra Leone. Widespread violence, exploitation, and corrup- tion lead to the decline and eventual collapse of the government of Sierra Leone, leading several Sierra Leone civilians to rebel. During the civil war in Sierra Leone, Siaka Stevens and Major General Joseph Momoh were the rulers at the time that assisted Taylor.
In March 1991, several Sierra Leone rebels left their country, trained in Liberia, and together with Liberian loyalists to Taylor formed the RUF. Taylor enabled the RUF to invade Sierra Leone in 1991 by providing weapons and territorial access to Sierra Leone through Liberia. The RUF quickly took con- trol of Sierra Leone’s diamond fields. Taylor traded Liberia’s inferior weapons for diamonds from Sierra Leone, now called “blood diamonds.” The trade re- sulted in Taylor receiving about $25 to $125 million USD in blood diamonds annually and Taylor being seen as the RUF’s sponsor and weapons supplier.
In January 2002, the Special Court for Sierra Leone (Special Court) was launched in Freetown, Sierra Leone, with the help of the United Nations, in or- der to uncover the truth about the mass atrocities. On March 7, 2003, Charles Taylor was indicted for 11 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other violations of international humanitarian law.
After Charles Taylor’s resignation, he was exiled to Nigeria and shielded from the Special Court initially because of political interests of western and Afri- can governments to end Liberia’s civil war and has- ten stability in Liberia. When Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
ILSA Quarterly » volume 22 » issue 2 » December 2013
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