Murderous war criminal scum finally receives justice

One of the world's worst war criminals finally received a small measure of justice this week. Former Liberian warlord and dictator Charles Taylor was convicted of multiple counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone. Taylor was convicted of aiding and abetting crimes in that country by arming Sierra Leone rebel groups knowing full well of the groups' actions.

As you might infer, I hold particularly enmity for this vile piece of trash. I lived in Guinea in the mid-90s, when the country hosted over half a million refugees from the Sierra Leonean and Liberian civil wars. I personally knew people whose lives were ruined by Taylor's roving bands of murderous thugs.

Since Taylor still has many allies inside Liberia itself, he was never going to be treated for the even greater he was responsible for in his own country, so it's a consolation that he will like spend the rest of his miserable life rotting in jail.

Tubman backs Taylor return

There has been a critical international reaction to comments by a Liberian presidential candidate. Winston Tubman, who recently qualified for a run off against the incumbent president and Nobel Peace laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, said that former warlord and dictator Charles Taylor would be free to return to the country. Taylor, an indicted war criminal and convicted scumbag, is presently on trial at the Special Court for Sierra Leone for his widely believed meddling in that country's civil war. He's yet to face trial for his role in his own country's conflict. Taylor's wife, a Liberian senator, is expected to be part of a Tubman administration if he wins. Tubman is a nephew of a former Liberian strongman.

Evil Scum Taylor begins spewing his lies

Earlier this week, former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor took the stand in The Hague during his trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Taylor, henceforth known here as Evil Scum Who Ought to Rot in Prison for The Rest of His Pathetic Life (Evil Scum for short), denied being responsible for any of the accused offenses.

Evil Scum, who is 'credited' with destabilizing much of West Africa during the 1990s and much of this decade, is charged with 11 counts of murder, torture, rape, sexual slavery and the use of child soldiers and terrorism in his role backing rebels in Sierra Leone's 1991-2002 civil war.

He has not yet been charged for any of the countless crimes he is widely believed to have been responsible for in his native Liberia.

Evil Scum's lawyer was on CBC Radio's As It Happens program earlier this week giving the former warlord's point of view.

A measure of justice at last in Sierra Leone

Yesterday, three senior members of the former Sierra Leone Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel group, including its second-in-command, were found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone in Freetown. The RUF gained infamy in the 1990s for their savage tactics, including the use of child soldiers, the amputation of the hands and arms of victims and the carving of the RUF's initials into the bodies of victims.

The BBC reported that the judges concluded the rebel chiefs "significantly contributed" to a joint criminal enterprise with former Liberian President Charles Taylor [also standing trial for crimes against humanity] to control the diamond fields of Sierra Leone to finance their warfare. They were also found guilty of forced marriage - the enslavement that countless young girls suffered when their villages were raided and they were forced to "marry" a rebel. The convictions mark the first time the forced marriage charge has been successfully handed down in an international court of law.

The RUF's leader Foday Sankoh died in custody before facing trial.

TIME magazine had this interview with the Special Court's prosecutor, who expressed satisfaction at the verdict. When asked about the potential conflict between justice and peace, he pointed out that the two were complimentary. "I guess [the] proof of the pudding is that the country held an election in August and September 2007 where not only was the opposition not expected to get in, they were allowed to get in. That's pretty positive. What the court has done is reinforce the peace and restore the rule of law to allow events like that to happen," he noted.

The three will be sentenced at a later date.