This seems like life -imprisonment. This man is already 65years old
Ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor is to serve his 50-year war crimes sentence in the UK, Justice Minister Jeremy Wright has confirmed. Mr Wright made the announcement in a written statement to Parliament, saying it followed a request from the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL).
Finland, Rwanda and Sweden were other possibilities following the rejection of his appeal last month by a UN-backed special court in The Hague.
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.
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.
Ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor is to serve his 50-year war crimes sentence in the UK, Justice Minister Jeremy Wright has confirmed. Mr Wright made the announcement in a written statement to Parliament, saying it followed a request from the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL).
Finland, Rwanda and Sweden were other possibilities following the rejection of his appeal last month by a UN-backed special court in The Hague.
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.
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.
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