26 April 2012 - LEIDSCHENDAM, Netherlands — In a historic ruling, the Sierra Leone Special Court says former Liberian President Charles Taylor is criminally responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity for supporting notoriously brutal Sierra Leone rebels in return for blood diamonds.
Judges have not yet formally delivered verdicts against the 64-year-old warlord-turned-president, but Presiding Judge Richard Lussick said that prosecutors have proved beyond reasonable doubt that Taylor is "criminally responsible" for aiding and abetting crimes by rebels in Sierra Leone's brutal civil war. Taylor had pleaded not guilty to 11 counts, including murder, rape, terror and conscripting child soldiers.
Charles Taylor is the first head of state ever found guilty of international crimes.
