When chief prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone Brenda Hollis called for an 80-year sentence for the former warlord-turned-president earlier this month, she argued that no leniency should be shown to the leader who “acted as a two-headed Janus, publicly espousing peace while clandestinely undermining it.”
Taylor was convicted last month for 11 counts of aiding and abetting murder, rape, sexual enslavement and terror during neighboring Sierra Leone’s brutal civil war in exchange for blood diamonds.
But judges presiding over his four-year trial found that although Taylor provided crucial support for the crimes, there wasn’t enough evidence to find him guilty of commanding or controlling his proxy rebel fighters.