Human rights activists are hailing the conviction of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor, calling it a milestone for the international criminal justice system and the people of Sierra Leone.
Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said Taylor's conviction sends a message that those in power can be brought to justice for grave crimes.
Alan White, the former chief of investigations for the Special Court for Sierra Leone, spoke about the significance of the verdict.
"Well, this is a historical and monumental day for the international criminal justice community, and most importantly, it's retributive justice for the people of Sierra Leone. This man was found guilty for the atrocities that he committed for over 1.2 million people, for rape, mutilization, and other crimes over his reign of terror. The people of Sierra Leone now get some closure to this episode as this man is brought to justice," said White.
Many Sierra Leonians watched the Taylor verdict live on television Thursday, and said afterward they were happy he had been brought to justice.
The ICC accused the Sudanese president of orchestrating genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur and issued an arrest warrant for him. However, he remains free in Sudan, which is locked into hostilities with South Sudan. The U.N. estimates that 300,000 people died and 2.7 million were displaced in the Darfur conflict.
MOAMMAR GADHAFI
Libya's leader became the first ruler killed in the Arab Spring uprisings that swept the region in 2011. He ruled for nearly 42 years with an eccentric brutality, turning Libya into an isolated pariah, then an oil power courted by the West, then back again. The rebels who toppled him were backed by a NATO bombing campaign.
SADDAM HUSSEIN
The former Iraqi dictator was hanged at age 69 in 2006 after an Iraqi trial. His brutality kept him in power through war with Iran, defeat in Kuwait, rebellions by northern Kurds and southern Shiite Muslims and international sanctions. A U.S.-led invasion drove him from power in 2003.
GEN. AUGUSTO PINOCHET
The former Chilean president died in 2006 at age 91 in a military hospital, ending a decade of intensifying efforts to bring him to trial for human rights abuses blamed on his regime. He had terrorized his opponents for 17 years after taking power in a bloody coup in 1973.
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC
The former Serb leader was found dead in 2006 in his prison cell in The Hague, Netherlands. That abruptly ended his four-year U.N. war crimes trial for orchestrating a decade of conflict in the Balkans which left 250,000 dead and the Yugoslav federation torn asunder. He was 64.
IDI AMIN
Uganda's deposed dictator lived in exile in Saudi Arabia until his death around the age of 80 in 2003. His regime was notorious for torturing and killing suspected opponents in the 1970s. His cruel, extravagant ways led to social disintegration and economic decline in his landlocked African nation.
The toppled Khmer Rouge leader died in the Cambodian jungle at age 73 in 1998, cheating pursuers who believed they were days away from capturing him for prosecution in the deaths of as many as 2 million countrymen. He ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, seeking to create a Marxist agrarian regime but leaving one person in five dead of starvation, illness or execution.
ADOLF HITLER
The Nazi dictator, who committed suicide in his Berlin bunker in 1945, was responsible for the Holocaust and the deaths of millions during World War II.
No comments:
Post a Comment