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Prosecutor v. Taylor

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Triestino Mariniello
Triestino Mariniello*
Affiliation:
Edge Hill University, United Kingdom
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Extract

On April 26, 2012, Trial Chamber II (Chamber) of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (Special Court or Court) in The Hague convicted former Liberian president Charles Ghankay Taylor of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from November 30, 1996, to January 18, 2002, in the territory of Sierra Leone during its civil war. Specifically, Taylor was found guilty of the crimes against humanity of murder, rape, sexual slavery, enslavement and other inhumane acts, and the war crimes of committing acts of terror, murder, outrages upon personal dignity, cruel treatment, pillage, and conscripting or enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into armed forces or groups or using them to participate actively in hostilities. In a separate judgment rendered on May 30, 2012, the Chamber sentenced Taylor to a single term of fifty years for all the counts on which the accused had been convicted.

Keywords

Sierra Leone civil warindividual criminal responsibilitycrimes against humanitywar crimeshead of state immunity
Type
International Decisions
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 107 , Issue 2 , April 2013 , pp. 424 - 430
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 2013

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References

1 Prosecutor v. Taylor, Case No. SCSL-03-01-T, Judgment (Spec. Ct. Sierra Leone Apr. 26, 2012) [hereinafter Judgment]. Decisions and documents of the Court cited herein are available online at its website, http://www.sc-sl.org, unless otherwise noted.

2 Prosecutor v. Taylor, Case No. SCSL-03-01-T, Sentencing Judgment (Spec. Ct. Sierra Leone May 30, 2012) [hereinafter Sentencing Judgment].

3 Statute of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, Art. 1 (Jan. 16, 2002) [hereinafter Statute].

4 Security Council Resolution 1688 (June 16, 2006) was issued pursuant to Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter. Importantly, the Security Council noted the intention of the president of the Special Court to establish a chamber in the Netherlands for Taylor’s trial and requested that all states cooperate in assisting the Court in making arrangements for the proceedings.

5 Prosecutor v. Taylor, Case No. SCSL-03-01-I, [Appeals] Decision on Immunity from Jurisdiction, paras. 52–53 (May 31, 2004), at http://www.sc-sl.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=7OeBn4RulEg=&tabid=191.

6 Id., paras. 43–53. Article 6(2) of the Statute provides, “The official position of any accused persons, whether as Head of State or Government or as a responsible Government official, shall not relieve such a person of criminal responsibility nor mitigate punishment.”

7 Prosecutor v. Delalić, Case No. IT-96-21-A, Appeals Judgment, para. 611 (Feb. 20, 2001).

8 Prosecutor v. Taylor, Case No. SCSL-03-01-T, Defence Final Trial Brief, para. 11 (May 23, 2011) (quoting Court’s first prosecutor, David M. Crane, in Taylor, Case No. SCSL-03-01-T-1029, Defence Motion Requesting an Investigation into Contempt of Court by the Office of the Prosecution and Its Investigators, Annex O, at 30,439–40 (Sept. 24, 2010)).

9 Prosecutor v. Sesay, Kallon, and Gbao, Case No. SCSL-04-15-A, Appeal Judgment (Oct. 26, 2009); Prosecutor v. Fofana and Kondewa, Case No.SCSL-04-14-A, Appeal Judgment (May 28, 2008); Prosecutor v. Brima, Kamara, and Kanu, Case No. SCSL-04-16-A, Appeal Judgment (Feb. 22, 2008).

10 Citing Taylor, Case No. SCSL-03-01-T, Public Prosecution Final Trial Brief, paras. 574–87 (Apr. 8, 2011).

11 Damaska, Mirjan R., What Is the Point of International Criminal Justice?, 83 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 329, 337 (2008)Google Scholar.

12 An exception to such a type of JCE applies in the case of special intent crimes like terrorism where, as noted by the Chamber, it would be an anomaly to convict an individual as a co-perpetrator “for a dolus specialis crime without possessing the requisite dolus specialis. “ Judgment, para. 468 n.1101 (quoting Prosecutor v. Ayyash, Case No. STL-11-01/I, Interlocutory Decision on the Applicable Law, para. 248 (Spec. Trib. Leb. Feb. 16, 2011) (Cassese, J.)).

13 Sentencing Judgment, para. 101.

14 Id., para. 36.

15 Id., para. 100.

16 Id., para. 102.

17 Id., para. 29.

18 Prosecutor v. Sesay, Kallon, and Gbao, Case No. SCSL-04-15-T, Sentencing Judgment, pt.VI (Apr.8,2009).

19 Id., Judgment, para. 1985 (Mar. 2, 2009).