Charles Taylor, Former Liberian Leader, Convicted to a 50-Year Sentence

Some of history’s most brutal and twisted murders took place during Sierra Leone’s lengthy civil war, which lasted from 1991 to 2002. As the former president of neighboring Liberia and a proponent of civil war in Sierra Leone, Charles Taylor was convicted of crimes against humanity and of war crimes in April at the Hague in the Netherlands. Today, the court delivered his sentence of 50 years in prison. For Taylor, age 64, this means the rest of his life will be spent behind bars. Taylor has expressed sympathy to the victims and their families, yet he maintains that what he did was out of honor, in the hopes of stabilizing the region so he could effectively rule Liberia. Both the prosecution and defense may appeal the sentence, the former seeking a more lengthy one and the latter claiming excessiveness.

Read more at the New York Times.