Liberia's Charles Taylor to serve jail term in UK



Following the ruling last month, Charles Taylor has no
further grounds for appeal
Ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor is to serve his
50-year war crimes sentence in the UK, Justice
Minister Jeremy Wright has confirmed.
Finland, Rwanda and Sweden were other possibilities
following the rejection of his appeal last month by a
UN-backed special court in The Hague.
It ruled that his convictions had been proved beyond
doubt.
He was sentenced in May 2012 for aiding rebels who
committed atrocities in Sierra Leone during its civil
war.
Because of fears his trial could spark renewed conflict
in West Africa, it was moved from Sierra Leone to The
Hague, and the UK at the time offered to jail him if
convicted.
'Landmark moment'
Mr Wright made the announcement in a written
statement to Parliament, saying it followed a request
from the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL).
"Taylor will now be transferred to a prison in the UK to
serve that sentence," he said, adding that international
justice was central to British foreign policy.
"The United Kingdom's offer to enforce any sentence
imposed on former President Taylor by the SCSL was
crucial to ensuring that he could be transferred to The
Hague to stand trial for his crimes," Mr Wright said.
The SCSL found Taylor, 65, guilty of 11 crimes including
terrorism, rape, murder and the use of child soldiers
by rebel groups in neighbouring Sierra Leone during
the 1991-2002 conflict in which some 50,000 people
died.
He was found to have supplied weapons to the
Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in exchange
for a constant flow of so-called blood diamonds.
The rebels were notorious for hacking off the limbs of
civilians to terrorise the population.
Taylor has always insisted he is innocent and his only
contact with the rebels was to urge them to stop
fighting.
He is the first former head of state convicted by an
international war crimes court since World War II.
Many victims of Sierra Leone's civil war had limbs
hacked off by rebels
UK forces intervened in Sierra Leone in 2000, sending
800 paratroopers to protect Freetown as rebel forces
were closing in on the capital. They evacuated British
citizens and helped secure the airport for beleaguered
UN peacekeepers.
The British forces pushed back the rebels, allowing the
UN peacekeeping force to operate effectively. British
forces then stayed on for another two years to re-train
the Sierra Leone army.
An act of parliament was passed in 2007 to allow for
Taylor to serve his sentence in the UK at the cost of the
government.
"The conviction of Charles Taylor is a landmark
moment for international justice," Mr Wright said.
"It clearly demonstrates that those who commit
atrocities will be held to account and that no matter
their position they will not enjoy impunity."
It is not the first time the UK has imprisoned foreign
nationals convicted of war crimes.
Four men convicted of war crimes in the former
Yugoslavia served time in British high-security prisons.
One former Bosnian-Serb general was stabbed at
Wakefield prison in apparent retaliation for the
massacre of Muslims in the UN safe haven of
Srebrenica in 1995.
The UK also offered to jail the former President of
Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, had he been convicted
at his trial in The Hague on charges of war crimes and
genocide. But he died in 2006 while on trial.

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