Former Liberian President Charles Taylor told judges at his war crimes sentencing hearing that he sympathised with his victims — but he did not apologise or express remorse.
Judges convicted Taylor last month of 11 counts of war crimes including murder, rape and conscripting child soldiers during Sierra Leone’s civil war that ended in 2002. They said his aid was essential in helping rebels across the border in Sierra Leone continue their bloody rampage during the West African nation’s decade-long civil war, which left more than 50,000 dead.
The court found Taylor helped the rebels obtain weapons, knowing they would be used to commit terrible crimes, in exchange for payments of “blood diamonds” often obtained by slave labour.
Today he told judges at the Special Court for Sierra Leone in the Hague: “I express my sadness and sympathy for crimes suffered by individuals and families in Sierra Leone.”
Prosecutors are demanding Taylor, 64, is jailed for 80 years while Taylor’s lawyers claim his conviction was for enabling, rather than ordering, war crimes, and he deserves a sentence that gives hope of release.
He faces sentencing on May 30.
