The 64-year-old warlord-turned-president is the first former head of state to be convicted by an international war crimes court since the Second World War. He was found guilty last month of 11 counts of aiding and abetting war crimes, and crimes against humanity by supporting rebels between 1996 and 2002 in return for conflict diamonds.
The trial of ex-Liberian president Charles Taylor at the Hague has come to an end with a guilty verdict in all of the eleven counts against him after nearly five years of proceedings. Taylor is the first African leader to stand trial for war crimes at the U.N.-backed International Criminal Court.