Crimes against humanity including acts of terrorism, murder, atrocities against personal dignity, rape, slavery, mutilation, use of children under the age of 15 in armed forces or groups, or using them to actively participate in hostilities, looting and other inhumane acts
Charles McArthur Ghankay Taylor (born 28 January 1948) is a Liberian former politician and convicted war criminal who served as the 22nd president of Liberia from 2 August 1997 until his resignation on 11 August 2003 as a result of the Second Liberian Civil War and growing international pressure.[1][2]
Born in Arthington, Montserrado County, Liberia, Taylor earned a degree at Bentley College in the United States before returning to Liberia to work in the government of Samuel Doe. After being removed for embezzlement and imprisoned by President Doe, Taylor escaped prison in 1989. He eventually arrived in Libya, where he was trained as a guerrilla fighter. He returned to Liberia in 1989 as the head of a Libyan-backed rebel group, the National Patriotic Front of Liberia, to overthrow the Doe government, initiating the First Liberian Civil War (1989–1996). Following Doe's execution, Taylor gained control of a large portion of the country and became one of the most prominent warlords in Africa.[3] His forces, along with those of other rival warlords such as ULIMO were notorious for committing widespread human rights abuses and atrocities during the civil war. Following a peace deal that ended the war, Taylor was elected president in the 1997 general election as a member of the National Patriotic Party (NPP).[4]
During his term of office, Taylor was accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity as a result of his support for the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel group in the Sierra Leone Civil War (1991–2002). Domestically, Taylor attempted to consolidate power through dictatorial means such as by purging the military and committing violence against his political rivals, including an assassination attempt of former ULIMO commander Roosevelt Johnson, leading to violent clashes in Monrovia in 1998. As a result, opposition to his government grew, culminating in the outbreak of the Second Liberian Civil War in 1999. By 2003, Taylor had lost control of much of the countryside and was formally indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone. That year, he resigned, as a result of growing international pressure; he went into exile in Nigeria. In 2006, the newly elected President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, formally requested his extradition. He was detained by UN authorities in Sierra Leone and then at the Penitentiary Institution Haaglanden in The Hague, awaiting trial by the Special Court.[5] He was found guilty in April 2012 of all eleven charges levied by the Special Court, including terror, murder and rape.[6]
In May 2012, Taylor was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Reading the sentencing statement, Presiding Judge Richard Lussick said: "The accused has been found responsible for aiding and abetting as well as planning some of the most heinous and brutal crimes in recorded human history."[7]
Early life
Taylor was born in Arthington, a town near the capital of Monrovia, Liberia, on 28 January 1948, to Nelson and Yassa Zoe (Louise) Taylor. He attended The Newman School in his early years. He took the name "Ghankay" later on, possibly to please and gain favor with indigenous Liberians.[8] His mother was a member of the Gola ethnic group, part of the 95% of the people who are indigenous to Liberia. According to most reports, his father was an Americo-Liberian who worked as a teacher, sharecropper, lawyer and judge.[9]
Taylor supported the 1980 Liberian coup d'état led by Samuel Doe, which resulted in the murder of President William Tolbert and seizure of power by Doe, who established the People's Redemption Council. Taylor was appointed to the position of Director General of the General Services Agency (GSA), a position that left him in charge of purchasing for the Liberian government. He was fired in May 1983 for embezzling an estimated $1,000,000 (~$2.57million in 2023) and sending the funds to another bank account.
Taylor fled to the United States but was arrested on 21 May 1984 by two US Deputy Marshals in Somerville, Massachusetts, on a warrant for extradition to face charges of embezzling $1 million (~$2.48million in 2023) of government funds while he was the GSA boss.[11] Taylor fought extradition with the help of a legal team led by former US Attorney GeneralRamsey Clark. His lawyers' primary arguments before US District Magistrate Robert J. DeGiacomo stated that his alleged acts of lawbreaking in Liberia were political rather than criminal in nature and that the extradition treaty between the two republics had lapsed. Assistant United States Attorney Richard G. Stearns argued that Liberia wished to charge Taylor with theft in office, rather than with political crimes. Stearns' arguments were reinforced by Liberian Justice Minister Jenkins Scott, who flew to the United States to testify at the proceedings.[12] Taylor was detained in the Plymouth County Correctional Facility.[11]
On 15 September 1985, Taylor and four other inmates escaped from the jail. Two days later, The Boston Globe reported that they sawed through a bar covering a window in a dormitory room, after which they lowered themselves 20 feet (6.1m) on knotted sheets and escaped into nearby woods by climbing a fence.[11] Shortly thereafter, Taylor and two other escapees were met at nearby Jordan Hospital by Taylor's wife, Enid, and Taylor's sister-in-law, Lucia Holmes Toweh. They drove a getaway car to Staten Island in New York, where Taylor disappeared. All four of Taylor's fellow escapees, as well as Enid and Toweh, were later apprehended.[13]
In July 2009, Taylor claimed at his trial that US CIA agents had helped him escape from the maximum security prison in Boston in 1985. This was during his trial by the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague. The US Defense Intelligence Agency confirmed that Taylor first started working with US intelligence in the 1980s but refused to give details of his role or US actions, citing national security.[14][15]
Civil war
Taylor escaped the United States without issue. He then resurfaced in Libya where he took part in militia training under Muammar Gaddafi, becoming Gaddafi's protégé.[16] He later left Libya and travelled to the Ivory Coast, where he founded the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL).
In December 1989, Taylor launched a Gaddafi-funded armed uprising from the Ivory Coast into Liberia to overthrow the Doe regime, leading to the First Liberian Civil War.[17] By 1990, his forces controlled most of the country. That same year, Prince Johnson, a senior commander of Taylor's NPFL, broke away and formed the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL).
In September 1990, Johnson captured Monrovia, depriving Taylor of outright victory. Johnson and his forces captured and tortured Doe to death, instigating a violent political fragmentation of the country.[18] The civil war turned into an ethnic conflict, with seven factions among indigenous peoples and the Americo-Liberians fighting for control of Liberia's resources (especially iron ore, diamonds, timber, and rubber).
Amos Sawyer alleges that Taylor's aims extended beyond Liberia—that he wanted to re-establish the country as a regional power player. Taylor's ambitions, which were held from the civil war period into his presidency, not only resulted in the domestic Liberian conflict, they also triggered regional instability which manifested itself in the forms of the Sierra Leone Civil War and unrest in the forest region of Guinea.[19]
Presidency
After the official end of the civil war in 1996, Taylor ran for president in the 1997 general election. He campaigned on the notorious slogan "He killed my ma, he killed my pa, but I will vote for him."[20]
The elections were overseen by the United Nations' peacekeeping mission, United Nations Observer Mission in Liberia, along with a contingent from the Economic Community of West African States.[21] Taylor won the election in a landslide, garnering 75 percent of the vote. Although the election was generally regarded as free and fair by international observers,[22] Taylor had a significant advantage from the outset. During the civil war, he seized virtually all of the country's radio stations and used his control over the Liberian airwaves to spread propaganda and bolster his image.[23] Additionally, there was widespread fear in the country that Taylor would resume the war if he lost.[24][25]
During his time in office, Taylor cut the size of the Armed Forces of Liberia, dismissing 2,400–2,600 former personnel, many of whom were ethnic Krahn brought in by former President Doe to give advantage to his people. In 1998, Taylor attempted to murder one of his political opponents, the former warlord Roosevelt Johnson, causing clashes in Monrovia, during and after which hundreds of Krahn were massacred and hundreds more fled Liberia. This event was one of the factors that led to the outbreak of the Second Liberian Civil War.
In 2003, members of the Krahn tribe founded a rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), opposing Taylor. The group disbanded as part of the peace agreement at the end of the second civil war.[26] In its place, Taylor installed the Anti-Terrorist Unit, the Special Operations Division of the Liberian National Police (LNP), which he used as his private army.
During his presidency, Taylor was alleged to have been involved directly in the Sierra Leone Civil War. He was accused of aiding the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) through weapon sales in exchange for blood diamonds. Due to a UN embargo against arms sales to Liberia at the time, these weapons were largely purchased on the black market through arms smugglers such as Viktor Bout.[27] Taylor was charged with aiding and abetting RUF atrocities against civilians, which left many thousands dead or mutilated, with unknown numbers of people abducted and tortured. He was also accused of assisting the RUF in the recruitment of child soldiers. In addition to aiding the RUF in these acts, Taylor reportedly personally directed RUF operations in Sierra Leone.[28]
Taylor obtained spiritual and other advice from the evangelist Kilari Anand Paul.[29] As president, he was known for his flamboyant style.[30] Upon being charged by the UN of being a gunrunner and diamond smuggler during his presidency, Taylor appeared in all-white robes and begged God for forgiveness, while denying the charges.[30] He was reported to have said that "Jesus Christ was accused of being a murderer in his time."[30]
During the last four years of Taylor's presidency, he is believed to have stolen and diverted nearly $100 million, amounting to roughly half of total government revenue.[31]
Rebellion and indictment
In 1999, a rebellion against Taylor began in northern Liberia, led by a group calling itself Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). This group was frequently accused of atrocities, and is thought to have been backed by the government of neighboring Guinea.[32] This uprising signaled the beginning of the Second Liberian Civil War.
By early 2003, LURD had gained control of northern Liberia. That year, a second Ivorian-backed rebel group, Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), emerged in southern Liberia and achieved rapid success.[33] By the summer, Taylor's government controlled only about a third of Liberia: Monrovia and the central part of the country. More than one-third of the total population lived in this area.
On 7 March 2003, the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) issued a sealed indictment for Taylor.[34] Earlier that year, Liberian forces had killed Sam Bockarie, a leading member of the RUF in Sierra Leone, in a shootout under Taylor's orders. Some have claimed that Taylor ordered Bockarie killed to prevent the leader from testifying against him at the SCSL.[35]
In June 2003, Alan White, the Prosecutor to the Special Court unsealed the indictment and announced publicly that Taylor was charged with war crimes. The indictment asserted that Taylor created and backed the RUF rebels in Sierra Leone, who were accused of a range of atrocities, including the use of child soldiers.[36][37] The Prosecutor also said that Taylor's administration had harbored members of Al-Qaeda sought in connection with the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.[38]
The indictment was unsealed during Taylor's official visit to Ghana, where he was participating in peace talks with MODEL and LURD officials. As result, the possibility arose that Taylor might be arrested by Ghanaian authorities; in response, Taylor's chief bodyguard and military commander Benjamin Yeaten threatened to execute Ghanaians who lived in Liberia, deterring Ghana's government from taking action.[37] With the backing of South African president Thabo Mbeki and against the urging of Sierra Leone president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, Ghana consequently declined to detain Taylor, who returned to Monrovia.
Resignation
During Taylor's absence for the peace talks in Ghana, the U.S. government was alleged to have urged Vice PresidentMoses Blah to seize power.[39] Upon his return, Taylor briefly dismissed Blah from his post, only to reinstate him a few days later.
In July 2003, LURD initiated a siege of Monrovia, and several bloody battles were fought as Taylor's forces halted rebel attempts to capture the city. The pressure on Taylor increased as U.S. President George W. Bush twice that month stated that Taylor "must leave Liberia". On 9 July, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo offered Taylor exile in his country on the condition that Taylor stay out of Liberian politics.[40]
Taylor insisted that he would resign only if U.S. peacekeeping troops were deployed to Liberia. Bush publicly called upon Taylor to resign and leave the country in order for any American involvement to be considered. Meanwhile, several African states, in particular the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) under the leadership of Nigeria, sent troops under the banner of ECOMIL to Liberia.[41]
Logistical support was provided by a California company called PAE Government Services Inc., which was given a $10 million contract by the U.S. State Department.[41] On 6 August, a 32-member U.S. military assessment team were deployed as a liaison with the ECOWAS troops,[42] landing from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, commanded by Colonel A.P. Frick, from three U.S. Navy amphibious ships waiting off the Liberian coast.
On 10 August, Taylor appeared on national television to announce that he would resign the following day and hand power to Vice President Blah. He harshly criticized the United States in his farewell address, saying that the Bush administration's insistence that he leave the country would hurt Liberia.[1] On 11 August, Taylor resigned, with Blah serving as president until a transitional government was established on 14 October. Ghanaian President John Kufuor, South African President Thabo Mbeki, and Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano, all representing African regional councils, were present at his announcement. The U.S. brought Joint Task Force Liberia's Amphibious Ready Group of three warships with 2,300 Marines into view of the coast. Taylor flew to Nigeria, where the Nigerian government provided houses for him and his entourage in Calabar.
Exile
In November 2003, the United States Congress passed a bill that included a reward offer of two million dollars for Taylor's capture. While the peace agreement had guaranteed Taylor safe exile in Nigeria, it also required that he refrain from influencing Liberian politics. His critics said he disregarded this prohibition. On 4 December, Interpol issued a red notice regarding Taylor, suggesting that countries had a duty to arrest him. Taylor was placed on Interpol's Most Wanted list, declaring him wanted for crimes against humanity and breaches of the 1949 Geneva Convention, and noting that he should be considered dangerous. Nigeria stated it would not submit to Interpol's demands, agreeing to deliver Taylor to Liberia only in the event that the President of Liberia requested his return.
On 17 March 2006, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the newly elected President of Liberia, submitted an official request to Nigeria for Taylor's extradition. This request was granted on 25 March, whereby Nigeria agreed to release Taylor to stand trial in the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL). Nigeria agreed only to release Taylor and not to extradite him, as no extradition treaty existed between the two countries.
Disappearance and arrest
Three days after Nigeria announced its intent to transfer Taylor to Liberia, the leader disappeared from the seaside villa where he had been living in exile.[43] A week before that, Nigerian authorities had taken the unusual step of allowing local press to accompany census takers into Taylor's Calabar compound.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo was scheduled to meet with President Bush less than 48 hours after Taylor was reported missing. Speculation ensued that Bush would refuse to meet with Obasanjo if Taylor were not apprehended. Less than 12 hours prior to the scheduled meeting between the two heads of state, Taylor was reported apprehended en route to Liberia.[44]
On 29 March, Taylor tried to cross the border into Cameroon through the border town of Gamboru in northeastern Nigeria. His Range Rover with Nigerian diplomatic plates was stopped by border guards, and Taylor's identity was eventually established.[44]
Upon his arrival at Roberts International Airport in Harbel, Liberia, Taylor was arrested and handcuffed by LNP officers, who immediately transferred responsibility for the custody of Taylor to the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). Irish UNMIL soldiers escorted Taylor aboard a UN helicopter to Freetown, Sierra Leone, where he was delivered to the SCSL.[citation needed]
Trial
The Daily Talk newsboard documenting the Charles Taylor case
The SCSL prosecutor originally indicted Taylor on 3 March 2003 on 17 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the conflict in Sierra Leone. On 16 March 2006, a SCSL judge gave leave to amend the indictment against Taylor. Under the amended indictment, Taylor was charged with 11 counts. At Taylor's initial appearance before the court on 3 April 2006, he entered a plea of not guilty.[45][46]
In early June 2006, the decision on whether to hold Taylor's trial in Freetown or in Leidschendam had not yet been made by the new SCSL president, George Gelaga King. King's predecessor had pushed for the trial to be held abroad because of fear that a local trial would be politically destabilizing in an area where Taylor still had influence.[3] The Appeals Chamber of the Special Court dismissed a motion by Taylor's defence team, who argued that their client could not get a fair trial there and also wanted the Special Court to withdraw the request to move the trial to Leidschendam.[47][48]
On 15 June 2006, the British government agreed to jail Taylor in the United Kingdom in the event he was convicted by the SCSL. This fulfilled a condition laid down by the Dutch government, which had stated it was willing to host the trial but would not jail him if convicted. British Foreign Minister Margaret Beckett stated that new legislation would be required to accommodate this arrangement.[49] This legislation came in the form of the International Tribunals (Sierra Leone) Act 2007.[50] While awaiting his extradition to the Netherlands, Taylor was held in a UN jail in Freetown.[51]
On 16 June 2006, the United Nations Security Council agreed unanimously to allow Taylor to be sent to Leidschendam for trial; on 20 June 2006, Taylor was extradited and flown to Rotterdam Airport in the Netherlands. He was taken into custody and held in the detention centre of the International Criminal Court, located in the Scheveningen section of The Hague.[52] The Association for the Legal Defence of Charles G. Taylor was established in June 2006 to assist in his legal defence.
When Taylor's trial opened on 4 June 2007, Taylor boycotted the proceeding and was not present. Through a letter that was read by his attorney to the court, he justified his absence by alleging that at that moment he was not ensured a fair and impartial trial.[53]
On 20 August 2007, Taylor's defence, now led by Courtenay Griffiths, obtained a postponement of the trial until 7 January 2008.[54] During the trial, the chief prosecutor alleged that a key insider witness who testified against Taylor went into hiding after being threatened for giving evidence against Taylor.[55] Furthermore, Joseph "Zigzag" Marzah, a former military commander, testified that Charles Taylor celebrated his new-found status during the civil war by ordering human sacrifice, including the killings of Taylor's opponents and allies that were perceived to have betrayed Taylor, and by having a pregnant woman buried alive in sand.[56] Marzah also accused Taylor of forcing cannibalism on his soldiers to terrorize their enemies.[57]
In January 2009, the prosecution finished presenting its evidence against Taylor and closed its case on 27 February 2009. On 4 May 2009, a defence motion for a judgment of acquittal was dismissed, and arguments for Taylor's defence began in July 2009.[58] Taylor testified in his own defence from July through November 2009.[59] The defence rested its case on 12 November 2010, with closing arguments set for early February 2011.[60]
On 8 February 2011, the trial court ruled in a 2–1 decision that it would not accept Taylor's trial summary, as the summary had not been submitted by the 14 January deadline. In response, Taylor and his counsel boycotted the trial and refused an order by the court to begin closing arguments. This boycott came soon after the 2010 leak of American diplomatic cables, in which the United States discussed the possibility of extraditing Taylor for prosecution in the United States in the event of his acquittal by the SCSL. Taylor's counsel cited the leaked cable and the court's decision as evidence of an international conspiracy against Taylor.[61]
On 3 March, the appeals court of the SCSL overturned the trial court's decision, ruling that as the trial court had not established that Taylor had been counseled by the court and personally indicated his intent to waive his right to a trial summary, Taylor's due process rights would be violated by preventing him from submitting a trial summary. The appeals court ordered the trial court to accept the summary and set a date for the beginning of closing arguments.[62] On 11 March, the closing arguments ended, and it was announced that the court would begin the process to reach a verdict.[63]
Verdict
The verdict was announced in Leidschendam on 26 April 2012.[64] The SCSL unanimously ruled that he was guilty of all 11 counts of "aiding and abetting" war crimes and crimes against humanity,[65] making him the first (former) head of state to be convicted by an international tribunal since Karl Dönitz at the Nuremberg Trials. Taylor was charged with:[66]
Count
Crime
Type*
Ruling
Terrorising the civilian population and collective punishments
1
Acts of terrorism
WC
Guilty
Unlawful killings
2
Murder
CAH
Guilty
3
Violence to life, health and physical or mental well-being of persons, in particular murder
WC
Guilty
Sexual violence
4
Rape
CAH
Guilty
5
Sexual slavery and any other form of sexual violence
CAH
Guilty
6
Outrages upon personal dignity
WC
Guilty
Physical violence
7
Violence to life, health and physical or mental well-being of persons, in particular, cruel treatment
WC
Guilty
8
Other inhumane acts
CAH
Guilty
Use of child soldiers
9
Conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 years into armed forces or groups, or using them to participate actively in hostilities
VIHL: Other serious violation of international humanitarian law
At his trial, Taylor claimed that he was a victim, denied the charges and compared his actions of torture and crimes against humanity to the actions of George W. Bush in the War on Terror.[67] Sentencing hearings commenced on 3 May[68] and were announced on 30 May. Taylor was sentenced to 50 years in prison.[69][70] He was about 64 years of age at the time of sentencing.
Sierra Leone's government described the sentence as "a step forward as justice has been done, though the magnitude of the sentence is not commensurate with the atrocities committed".[65]
Taylor appealed against the verdict, but on 26 September 2013, Appeals Chamber of the Special Court confirmed his guilt and the penalty of 50 years in prison.[71]
Imprisonment
On 15 October 2013, Taylor was transferred to British custody, and began serving his sentence at HM Prison Frankland in County Durham, England.[72][73] Taylor's attorneys filed a motion to have him transferred to a prison in Rwanda,[74] but in March 2015, the motion was denied and he was ordered to continue serving his sentence in the United Kingdom.[75] In January 2017, it was found that he had been making phone calls from the prison to provide guidance to the National Patriotic Party and threaten some of his enemies.[76]
In October 2021, Taylor filed a complaint against the Liberian government for "non-payment of his retirement". This complaint was lodged with the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).[77]
Personal life
In 1997, Taylor married Jewel Taylor, with whom he has one son. She filed for divorce in 2005, citing her husband's exile in Nigeria and the difficulty of visiting him due to a UN travel ban on her.[78] The divorce was granted in 2006. From January, 2018 to January 22, 2024, Jewel Taylor served as Vice President of Liberia with George Manneh Weah.
Phillip Taylor, Taylor's son with Jewel, remained in Liberia following his father's extradition to the SCSL. He was arrested by Liberian police officials on 5 March 2011 and charged with attempted murder in connection with an assault on the son of an immigration officer who had assisted in Charles Taylor's extradition;[79] the mother of the victim claimed that Phillip Taylor had sworn vengeance against the immigration officer. He was arrested at Buchanan in Grand Bassa County,[80] allegedly while attempting to cross the border into the Ivory Coast.[79]
Taylor has three children with his second wife Victoria Addison Taylor; the youngest, Charlize, was born in March 2010.[81][82] In 2014, Victoria was denied a visa to visit her husband while he serves his sentence in the United Kingdom.[83][84]
Taylor also has another son, a U.S. citizen named Charles McArther Emmanuel, born to his college girlfriend. Emmanuel was arrested in 2006 after entering the United States and was charged with three counts, including participation in torture while serving in the Anti-Terrorist Unit in Liberia during his father's presidency. The law that prosecuted Emmanuel was put in place in 1994, before "extraordinary rendition" in an attempt to prevent U.S. citizens from committing acts of torture overseas. To date, this is the only prosecuted case.[85] In October 2008, Emmanuel was convicted on all three counts and sentenced to 97 years in prison.[86]
Charles Taylor is also said to have been the husband or partner to Agnes Reeves Taylor.[87] Agnes and Charles met when Taylor was head of the General Services Agency in the mid-1980s during the regime of former President Samuel Kanyon Doe.[88] According to Trial international, Charles Taylor and Agnes Reeves Taylor married in Ghana in 1986.[89] However, according to allafrica.com, the two were never legally married.[90] She is reported to have left Liberia in 1992 before the end of the civil war and settled in the United Kingdom where she was a lecturer at Coventry University. On 2 June 2017, she was arrested in London by the Metropolitan Police and charged with torture on the grounds of her suspected involvement with the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) rebel group, which was led by her ex-husband, during the First Liberian Civil War, from 1989 to 1996.[91] On 6 December 2019 the Central Criminal Court (The Old Bailey) in London decided to dismiss the charges against Agnes Reeves Taylor. The Court's decision came after the UK Supreme Court confirmed, in a historic judgment on 13 November 2019, that members of non-state armed groups may be prosecuted for crimes of torture under section 134(1) of the UK Criminal Justice Act 1988, thus legally paving the way for the case against Agnes Reeves Taylor to proceed to trial.[92] However, after rendering its judgment, the UK Supreme Court sent the case back to the Central Criminal Court to consider further evidence from the prosecution's expert and apply the legal standard confirmed by the Supreme Court to the facts of the case. In order for a member of a non-state armed group to be prosecuted for torture, the group must have been exercising "governmental functions". The Central Criminal Court ruled that the evidence presented by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) failed to prove that the NPFL had the requisite authority over the relevant territory at the time the crimes in question were committed. Therefore, the court dismissed the case.
In popular culture
Taylor is a prominent character in the 2004 novel The Darling by Russell Banks.
The character Andre Baptiste Sr. from the 2005 film Lord of War is partially based on Taylor.[93]
Liberia is a country in West Africa founded by free people of color from the United States. The emigration of African Americans, both freeborn and recently emancipated, was funded and organized by the American Colonization Society (ACS). The mortality rate of these settlers was the highest among settlements reported with modern recordkeeping. Of the 4,571 emigrants who arrived in Liberia between 1820 and 1843, only 1,819 survived (39.8%).
Moses Zeh Blah was a Liberian politician. He served as the 28th vice president of Liberia under President Charles Taylor and became the 23rd president of Liberia on 11 August 2003, following Taylor's resignation. He served as president for two months, until 14 October 2003, when a United Nations-backed transitional government, headed by Gyude Bryant, was established and Bryant was sworn in as Chairman of the Transitional Government of Liberia.
The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) was a rebel group that fought a failed eleven-year war in Sierra Leone, beginning in 1991 and ending in 2002. It later transformed into a political party, which still exists today. The three most senior surviving leaders, Issa Sesay, Morris Kallon, and Augustine Gbao, were convicted in February 2009 of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) was a rebel group in Liberia that was active from 1999 until the resignation of Charles Taylor ended the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. While the group formally dissolved after the war, the interpersonal linkages of the civil war era remain a key force in internal Liberian politics.
The First Liberian Civil War was the first of two civil wars within the West African nation of Liberia which lasted between 1989 and 1997. President Samuel Doe's regime of totalitarianism and widespread corruption led to calls for withdrawal of the support of the United States, by the late 1980s. The National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) led by Charles Taylor invaded Liberia from the Ivory Coast to overthrow Doe in December 1989 and gained control over most of the country within a year. Doe was captured and executed by the Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL), a splinter faction of the NPFL led by Prince Johnson, in September 1990. The NPFL and INPFL fought each other for control of the capital city, Monrovia and against the Armed Forces of Liberia and pro-Doe United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy. Peace negotiations and foreign involvement led to a ceasefire in 1995 but fighting continued until a peace agreement between the main factions occurred in August 1996. Taylor was elected President of Liberia following the 1997 Liberian general election and entered office in August of the same year.
The Second Liberian Civil War was a civil war in the West African nation of Liberia that lasted from 1999 to 2003.
The Sierra Leonean Civil War (1991–2002) was a civil war in Sierra Leone that began on 23 March 1991 when the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), with support from the special forces of Liberian dictator Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), intervened in Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow the Joseph Momoh government. The resulting civil war lasted almost 11 years, and had over 50,000, up to 70,000, casualties in total; an estimated 2.5 million people were displaced during the conflict, and widespread atrocities occurred.
The National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) was a Liberian rebel group that initiated and participated in the First Liberian Civil War from 24 December 1989 – 2 August 1997. The NPFL emerged out of rising ethnic tensions and civil unrest due to the Liberian government that was characterized by totalitarianism, corruption, and favoritism towards ethnic Krahns. The NPFL invaded Liberia through Ivory Coast’s border with Nimba County in Liberia under the direction of Charles Taylor, a former Liberian politician and guerrilla leader who served as the 22nd president of Liberia from 2 August 1997 until his resignation on 11 August 2003.
Samuel Sam Bockarie, widely known as Mosquito, was a Sierra Leonean politician and army commander who served as a leader of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Bockarie was infamous during the Sierra Leone Civil War for his brutal tactics, which included amputation, mutilation, and rape. He earned the nickname "Mosquito" for his ability to attack when his enemies were off-guard, mainly during the night. During his service in the RUF, he befriended future Liberian president Charles Taylor, and RUF commander Foday Sankoh. When Sankoh was imprisoned from March 1997 until April 1999, Bockarie served as commander of the RUF in his place.
The Special Court for Sierra Leone, or the "Special Court" (SCSL), also called the Sierra Leone Tribunal, was a judicial body set up by the government of Sierra Leone and the United Nations to "prosecute persons who bear the greatest responsibility for serious violations of international humanitarian law and Sierra Leonean law" committed in Sierra Leone after 30 November 1996 and during the Sierra Leone Civil War. The court's working language was English. The court listed offices in Freetown, The Hague, and New York City.
The Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is a Parliament-enacted organization created in May 2005 under the Transitional Government. The Commission worked throughout the first mandate of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf after she was elected President of Liberia in November 2005. The Liberian TRC came to a conclusion in 2010, filing a final report and recommending relevant actions by national authorities to ensure responsibility and reparations.
A new civil war began in 1999 when a rebel group backed by the government of neighboring Guinea, the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), emerged in northern Liberia. By the spring of 2001, they were posing a major threat to the Taylor government. Liberia was now engaged in a complex three-way conflict with Sierra Leone and the Guinea Republic. By the beginning of 2002, both of these countries were supporting the latest addition to the lexicon of Liberian guerrilla outfits – Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), while Taylor was supporting various opposition factions in both countries. By supporting Sierra Leonean rebels, Taylor also drew the enmity of the British and Americans.
The Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATU), also known as the Anti-Terrorist Brigade, was a paramilitary force of the government of Liberia, established by then-President Charles Taylor in 1997–98. Chuckie Taylor, Charles Taylor's son, served as commander of the force for a period. The ATU was initially organized ostensibly to protect government buildings, the executive mansion, the international airport, and to provide security for some foreign embassies. It was a special forces group consisting predominantly of foreign nationals from Burkina Faso and The Gambia, as well as former Revolutionary United Front (RUF) combatants from Sierra Leone.
Abdul Aziz One Mohammed was military governor of Borno State, Nigeria, and later was leader of the ECOMOG peacekeeping force in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Liberia – Sierra Leone relations refers to the historical and current relationship between Liberia and Sierra Leone. The two countries signed a non-aggression pact in 2007 when Sierra Leonean President Ernest Bai Koroma took office. In January 2011, an African diplomat described relations as "cordial".
The following lists events that happened during 2006 in Liberia.
The following lists events that happened during 2006 in Sierra Leone.
Dorothy Harriet Eugenia Musuleng Cooper was a Liberian educator, politician and the first woman to serve as Foreign Minister in Liberia. She was born at Arthington, Liberia and obtained her B.S. and M.S. from College of West Africa and San Francisco State University respectively. She worked as a school teacher between graduation and high school and matriculation in 1964 in San Francisco in 1964, curriculum development in the Ministry of Education, and principal of Cuttington University College. She was an education minister in Charles Taylor's shadow government from 1990 to 1993 in the National Patriotic Reconstruction Assembly Government
Alain Werner is a Swiss human rights lawyer, specialized in the defence of victims of armed conflicts, founder and director of Civitas Maxima (CM), an international network of lawyers and investigators based in Geneva that since 2012 represents victims of mass crimes in their attempts to obtain justice.
Hassan Bility is a Liberian journalist, and the founder and Director of the Global Justice and Research Project (GJRP), a non-governmental organization dedicated to the documentation of war time atrocities in Liberia and to assisting victims in their pursuit of justice for these crimes.
↑ Sawyer, Amos (2004). "Violent conflicts and governance challenges in West Africa: the case of the Mano River basin area". Journal of Modern African Studies. 42 (3): 437–463. doi:10.1017/S0022278X04000266. S2CID154954003.
↑ Left, Sarah (4 August 2003). "War in Liberia". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 18 January 2008.
↑ "UNOMIL". Information Technology Section/Department of Public Information. 2001. Retrieved 18 January 2008.
↑ Streeb, Gordon (1997). "Observing the 1997 Special Election Process in Liberia"(PDF). The Carter Center. p.8. Retrieved 24 January 2022. Charles Taylor won the presidential election by a large margin, receiving more than 75 percent of the vote, in a process the Center and other international observers viewed as fair but far from perfect.
↑ Innes, Michael Alexander (2003). "2". Conflict radio and ethnic warfare in Liberia, 1980–1997 (thesis). Concordia University. p.68. MQ77642. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
↑ "Back to the Brink". Human Rights Watch Report. 14 (A). 1 May 2002. Retrieved 18 January 2008.
↑ "Liberia". Briefing to the 60th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights. January 2004. Archived from the original on 21 June 2007. Retrieved 18 January 2008.
↑ Crane, David M. (3 March 2003). "CASE NO. SCSL – 03 – I". The Special Court for Sierra Leone. Freetown, Sierra Leone: United Nations and the Government of Sierra Leone. Archived from the original on 19 November 2007. Retrieved 18 January 2008.
Handing Over Charles Taylor: It's Time, JURIST (op-ed by David Crane, former Chief Prosecutor for the Special Court for Sierra Leone who signed the indictment for Charles Taylor)
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