Africa

What are the wider implications of this verdict for West Africa, and also for international justice?

Taylor was convicted on all 11 charges of aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sierra Leone between 1996 and 2002, during that country’s brutal civil war. As Liberian president, he instructed and provided operational support to the Revolutionary United Front, RUF, a rebel group operating in Sierra Leone. He was found guilty of aiding and abetting acts of terrorism, murder, rape, sexual slavery and pillage.

He was not, however, found to have had command responsibility for acts committed by the RUF.

The verdict has been welcomed by many in the wider West African region, where leaders have for years acted with impunity and inflicted suffering on civilians.

The ruling will also be seen as a success for the SCSL’s prosecutor, who narrowed down a broader indictment of 17 counts to the 11 heard by the court, and secured a guilty verdict on all of them.

More broadly, the verdict demonstrates that a sitting head of state is not immune from prosecution. Supporters of international justice will welcome this as a massive stride forward, particularly when set against the slow progress of the International Criminal Court, ICC, in The Hague which has so far struggled to bring heads of state and senior rebel leaders to justice.

The question of command responsibility was key to the trial. It wasn’t about whether Taylor committed the acts himself; it was whether he ordered, supported or condoned them. What are the possible implications of the judges’ findings on this?

Judges did not support the view that Taylor was guilty of the crimes at the higher threshold of actually ordering rebel forces to commit them. This will come as a blow to the lead prosecutor, Brenda Hollis, and she is likely to appeal against the decision.

The prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno Ocampo, and his successor-in-waiting, Fatou Bensouda, will also...