Liberia ex-President Charles Taylor get 50 years in prison

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: BBC

Liberia's ex-President Charles Taylor has been sentenced to 50 years in jail by a UN-backed war crimes court.

Last month Taylor was found guilty of aiding and abetting rebels in Sierra Leone during the 1991-2002 civil war.

Special Court for Sierra Leone judges said the sentence reflected his status as head of state at the time and his betrayal of public trust.

Taylor, 64, insists he is innocent and is likely to appeal against the sentence, correspondents say.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18259596

[Suji to Seoul]

1. he killed my mother, he killed my father, and now he's going to prison

scumbag!

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

2. I guess his close personal friend and supporter is in mourning

This guy, Republican National Convention keynote speaker and conservative spiritual leader Pat Robertson:

Under cross-examination, Taylor said that Robertson had volunteered to make Liberia's case before U.S. administration officials, and had spoken directly to President Bush about Taylor. He also confirmed that Robertson's company, Freedom Gold Limited, signed an agreement to exploit gold in southeastern Liberia, but that it never generated any profit.

"Mr. Taylor, indeed at one point you said that you can count on Pat Robertson to get Washington on your side," he was asked by the lead prosecution counsel, Col. Brenda Hollis, a former U.S. Air Force officer. Taylor replied: "I don't recall the exact words, but something to that effect."

http://turtlebay.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/02/05/charles_taylor_pat_robertson_was_my_man_in_washington

[Brooklyn Dame]

3. We really need to take a look at what he did...

...and our role in it.

http://borderlessnewsandviews.com/2012/05/in-defense-of-reason-part-3-a-parable-in-the-mouth-of-fools/

[pampango]

4. A victory for international justice. There are so many 'victories' still waiting out there. n/t

[JustAnotherGen]

5. Good!

His son sits rotting in jail for 97 years too . . .

[azurnoir]

6. only 50 years? that's it?

I guess hanging has gone out of style

[Posteritatis]

7. He doesn't warrant that level of kindness. (nt)

[DFW]

8. My daughter worked with the prosecution in Sierra Leone

She spent a summer in Sierra Leone with the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal.

I remember one of her emails from the UN HQ: "Oh, that infection I picked up in Senegal nearly killed
me, but someone got me some real antibiotics, and I'm better now."

She heard testimony on some stuff so gruesome, it sounded like suggestions from a horror movie script
that were rejected for being just too horrible for an audience to stomach, and 90% of it, she wasn't allowed
to repeat at all. If this guy spends the next 90 years going mad looking at the wall, it will be fine with me.