Charles Taylor (politician)

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Charles Taylor

Charles Ghankay Taylor (born January 28, 1948 in Arthington near Monrovia ) is a Liberian politician. From August 2, 1997 to August 11, 2003, he was the 22nd President of Liberia .

Taylor was a noted warlord in the Liberian Civil War in the 1990s and was later elected president. His tenure was marked by rebellion and regional conflicts and he was forced into exile after another civil war . On March 29, 2006 he was arrested while leaving his exile in Nigeria in the border area with Cameroon and imprisoned in Sierra Leone . For security reasons, the trial before the Special Court for Sierra Leone was moved to Leidschendam-Voorburg near The Hague in the Netherlands . Taylor was transferred there on June 20, 2006 and had to answer for crimes against humanity and war crimes . The trial opened on June 4, 2007. On April 26, 2012, the judges found him guilty. Taylor is the first African head of state to be held accountable for war crimes by an international tribunal.

On May 30, 2012, the sentence was set at 50 years. He is serving the sentence in the UK .

Life

Charles Taylor was born in Arthington, a village on the Saint Paul River near the Mount Coffee Dam . His father Nelson Taylor was an American Liberian , his mother Zoe was a member of the Gola . Charles Taylor studied in the USA - first at Chamberlayne Junior College in Newton (Massachusetts) and from 1972 to 1977 economics at Bentley College in Boston .

He returned to Liberia and was appointed head of the General Services Agency by President Samuel K. Doe . While in the United States again, he was arrested in Massachusetts in 1984 on charges of embezzlement on charges of President Doe accusing him of smuggling nearly $ 1 million out of the country. Taylor went into hiding for a few years after his escape, it is believed that he traveled to Libya via detours after leaving the USA .

First Liberian Civil War

In December 1989, Taylor initiated an armed uprising from the Ivory Coast . Doe was quickly defeated and tortured to death the following year by Taylor's ally, Yormie Johnson . The end of the Does government led to the political fragmentation of the country and the great suffering of the population continued. In the mid-1990s, Johnson and his supporters split off from Taylor's group, conquered Monrovia, preventing Taylor's complete victory. The civil war now escalated into an ethnic conflict in which seven groups tried to take control of Liberia's raw materials (particularly iron ore , wood, and rubber ). Over 200,000 people were killed and more than a million lost their homes. Under pressure from the international community, Taylor and the leaders of the other warring parties agreed to a ceasefire, which was followed by a democratic election after a transitional phase.

Presidency

Charles Taylor founded the National Patriotic Party and was elected 22nd President of Liberia on August 2, 1997 with a majority of 75% of the vote.

As President-elect, Taylor continued his destabilizing role in West Africa in the 1990s. He supported the rebel group Revolutionary United Front ( RUF ) in Sierra Leone , which acted with unbelievable brutality against the civilian population, and was therefore accused of initiating and prolonging the civil war in Sierra Leone .

Charles Taylor was widely criticized by Western governments, international non-governmental organizations and the media during his presidency . As early as March 2001, his attacks on the freedom of the press in Liberia were criticized and the immediate release of imprisoned journalists, including Joseph Bartuah , was demanded. A UN report accused him of the illegal trade in tropical timber and blood diamonds .

Second Liberian Civil War

Taylor's presidency again divided the country as a result of ethnic tensions. In 1999 a rebellion began from northern Liberia, led by a group called the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). At the beginning of 2003, when LURD was able to consolidate control of Northern Liberia, another rebel organization, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), which was supported by the government of the Ivory Coast, was formed and was also able to achieve considerable success. In the summer of 2003, Taylor controlled less than a third of the country.

In June 2003 the United Nations issued an arrest warrant for President Taylor for war crimes . The UN accused Taylor of supporting the RUF rebels in Sierra Leone, who were responsible for a variety of crimes there. During his stay in Ghana for peace talks, the US urged Vice President Moses Blah to seize power. On his return, Taylor dismissed Blah from his position, only to reappoint him a few days later. Meanwhile, the LURD began to besiege Monrovia and there was much bloody fighting while government forces prevented the rebels from taking the city. US President George W. Bush's demand that Taylor leave Liberia by July 2003 increased the pressure on him.

Resignation and exile

Taylor insisted on resigning only if American peacekeepers were stationed in Liberia. Nigeria also sent a larger peacekeeping force to the country and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo offered Taylor political exile in his country. On August 6, fewer than a dozen US Marines were deployed to support the peacekeeping forces.

On August 11, Taylor resigned and Moses Blah took office pending the formation of a transitional government on October 14. At the handover, the Ghanaian President John Agyekum Kufuor , the South African President Thabo Mbeki and the Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano were present. Taylor went into exile in Nigeria. The local government provided him and his followers with accommodation in Calabar . While the peace accord guaranteed Taylor a safe exile in Nigeria, it required him not to try to influence Liberian politicians. Critics accused him of failing to adhere to this part of the agreement.

arrest

On March 6, 2004, the UN Security Council passed a draft resolution providing for the freezing of all assets of Taylor and those of his friends and allies. On March 18, 2006, the Liberian government, led by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf , who was elected in January , officially demanded the extradition of Taylor from the Nigerian government, which it promised on March 25. He had been on the run since March 28, but was caught by the police a day later in the border area between Nigeria and Cameroon . The war crimes and crimes against humanity charges encompass 11 items, including multiple murders, the use of child soldiers , terrorization of the civilian population and sexual violence, mutilation, looting and attacks on UN workers.

As early as May 2005, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for coming to terms with the civil war in Liberia began its work. The investigation also focused on Taylor's role as warlord and president.

Trial and sentencing in The Hague

The trial of Charles Taylor was officially opened on June 4, 2007 in Leidschendam-Voorburg, not far from The Hague.

On July 14, 2009 the defense of Charles Taylor began in court, who first commented on the charges and dismissed them. In the trial against him, the public prosecutor tried to use world-wide popular witnesses such as Mia Farrow or Naomi Campbell to prove that he was in possession of blood diamonds from Sierra Leone.

The taking of evidence was completed on February 8, 2011, 50,000 pages of files and over 1,000 pieces of evidence were registered. Taylor's UK attorney, Courtenay Griffith, called the trial a "complete farce".

In January 2012, media reports based on documents from the United States Department of Defense revealed that Taylor had had a relationship with the US intelligence service CIA for years since the early 1980s .

On April 26, 2012, Taylor was found guilty by the Special Court. On May 30th, he was sentenced to 50 years in prison. He is the first African head of state to be held accountable for war crimes by an international tribunal. In June 2012, Taylor's lawyers announced that they would appeal . The prosecution also appealed. On appeal in September 2013, the Special Tribunal for Sierra Leone upheld the 2012 ruling of the first instance.

He has been serving the sentence in the United Kingdom since October 15, 2013 .

family

Taylor is a Baptist preacher and has justified his rule several times with references to Christianity.

Charles Taylor has been married three times:

  • first marriage to Enid Tupee Taylor
  • second marriage to Agnes Reeves Taylor
  • third marriage to Jewel Howard-Taylor , also this marriage was divorced after his resignation.

Charles Taylor's son , Charles Taylor Jr. (whose real name is Charles McArthur Emmanuel ) was on his return to convicted of serious human rights violations during the rebel uprising of 2006 USA at the Miami International Airport arrested. Charles Taylor Jr. was found guilty of torture, conspiracy to torture and firearms in a Miami federal court on October 31, 2008 . On January 9, 2009, he was sentenced to 97 years in prison. He is the most prominent of 14 children and grandchildren.

Others

Charles Taylor served as a template for Andre Baptiste sr. in the movie Lord of War . He is played by Eamonn Walker .

literature

  • Truth and Reconciliation Commission [TRC] (Ed.): TRC-Report . tape II . Monrovia 2009, 7.1. Taylor's Uprising, Human Rights violations & War Crimes (1990-1997); 7.2. Taylor Becomes President; 7.3. A New War: Lurd - Model Insurgency: 2000-2003; 7.4. The CPA and International Efforts to Restore Lasting Peace, p. 98–115 ( full text ( memento of October 31, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) [PDF; 3.1 MB ]).

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ 1984 prison term : Taylor was imprisoned in Plymouth, Massachusetts prison in March 1985 , from where he escaped under mysterious circumstances in September 1985. According to the testimony of former comrade-in-arms and current Liberian Senator Prince Yormie Johnson , the escape was arranged by the US government in order to later use Taylor in the ousting of Samuel Doe.
  2. ↑ 1997 presidential election : The election was judged by observers to be free and fair, although Taylor's victory was partly attributed to the belief that if he lost the election, he would revive the civil war. So many people would have chosen him to keep the peace.
  3. ↑ Warlords : Taylor had good contacts with generals of the RUF - including General Sam Bockarie , also known as General Mosquito  - who carried out some illegal operations for Taylor in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Charles Taylor feared for his political future when Sam Bockarie was tried in absentia on March 3, 2003 in the Special Court for Sierra Leone . Taylor had Bockarie in (protective) custody at this point in time, he was pressured to extradite the war criminal. However, since he knew that Bockarie would incriminate him in court, he is said to have prevented Bockarie's extradition through the murder or the apparent death. It is not clear whether Bockarie was killed on orders from Taylor or whether his death was only faked, since his body was never turned over to the authorities. However, the case against Sam Bockarie was closed on December 8, 2003 by decision of the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
  4. ↑ Failed Detention : The indictment was issued during Taylor's official visit to Ghana . With the support of the South African President Thabo Mbeki and against the urging of the President of Sierra Leone, Ahmad Tejan Kabbah , the Ghanaian police were unable to arrest Taylor, so he subsequently returned to Monrovia.
  5. Jump up ↑ Imprisonment : In November 2003, the US Senate put a $ 2 million bounty on Taylor. On December 4, Interpol issued an international arrest warrant. Taylor was from that point on Interpol's list of most wanted criminals as potentially dangerous; he was charged with crimes against humanity and breach of the Geneva Conventions . Nigeria then announced that it would not extradite Taylor until Liberia tried him.
  6. ↑ Arrest when crossing the border : with a diplomatic passport, he had already managed to pass the border control unmolested when customs officers checked his SUV for poultry products with reference to protective measures against bird flu. When they found suitcases full of US dollars, they arrested him and handed him over to the Nigerian border guards. He was immediately detained in the Special Prison of the Special Court for Sierra Leone .
  7. ↑ Transfer : After reading the indictment, in which Taylor pleaded innocent, the Special Court requested that the trial be transferred to The Hague for security reasons. After the Dutch government had given its consent and a resolution had been passed by the UN Security Council, Taylor was transferred from Sierra Leone to The Hague on June 20 and housed in the local United Nations Detention Unit , where the Special Court was located on the premises of the International Criminal Court will use.
  8. ↑ Legal tactics : Taylor refused to leave his cell and appear before the court because, as he told the presiding judge Julia Sebutinde of Uganda , he could not expect a fair trial. He also withdrew his lawyer from his mandate. The trial was interrupted in July 2007, but resumed on January 8, 2008.
  9. ↑ Taylor's religiosity : Several evangelical groups in the USA supported him during his presidency. Especially Pat Robertson distinguished himself here. On the one hand, he invested in the country's diamond production, and on the other, he criticized the USA, which overthrew Taylor. Robertson stated that this would strengthen Islam in Liberia. In 2002 Taylor declared Jesus Christ to be the actual President of Liberia.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Charles Taylor (Politican). NNDB (Soylent Communications), 2011, accessed on February 6, 2011 (English, short biography).
  2. ↑ US freed Taylor to overthrow Doe, Liberia's TRC hears - Mail & Guardian
  3. ^ The nine lives of Charles Taylor. In: The Guardian.
  4. ^ Elections in Liberia (1997). In: African Elections Database. Retrieved December 29, 2010 .
  5. ^ TRC report. (PDF; 3.1 MB) Volume II. (No longer available online.) TRC, July 2009, p. 384 , archived from the original on October 31, 2010 ; accessed on January 29, 2011 .
  6. ↑ https://www.stern.de/politik/ausland/kriegsverbrecher-prozess-gegen-charles-taylor-mia-farrow-und-ex-agentin-belasten-naomi-campbell-3112382.html
  7. ↑ Wim Dohrenbusch: Prosecution wants judgment against "godfathers of terror". (No longer available online.) Tagesschau , February 8, 2011, archived from the original on February 11, 2011 ; Retrieved February 8, 2011 .
  8. ↑ Liberia's ex-President Taylor allegedly CIA man ( memento of April 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) In: Kleine Zeitung of January 19, 2012
  9. ↑ 50 years imprisonment for ex-dictator Charles Taylor Spiegel Online from May 30, 2012
  10. ^ Tribunal declares former President Taylor guilty , FAZ Online, April 26, 2012
  11. ↑ Ruhs, Hybrid Tribunals. In: rescriptum 2012, 46, 52.
  12. ^ Judgment against Liberia's ex-president: UN special tribunal declares Charles Taylor guilty on sueddeutsche.de, April 26, 2012 (accessed on April 26, 2012).
  13. ↑ 50 years in prison for Liberia's ex-dictator Taylor at welt.de, May 30, 2012 (accessed May 30, 2012)
  14. ↑ Charles Taylor appeals conviction. In: derStandard.at of June 19, 2012
  15. ↑ focus.de 50 years imprisonment confirmed for ex-dictator Charles Taylor; Focus, September 26, 2013
  16. ↑ Liberia's ex-dictator Taylor has to go to prison for 50 years SZ Online, September 26, 2013
  17. ^ Wim Dohrenbusch: (radio report) Trial against Charles Taylor on the home stretch. (MP3 file; 3.19 min) (No longer available online.) NDR , February 8, 2011, formerly in the original ; Retrieved February 8, 2011 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / tagesschau.vo.llnwd.net  
personal data
SURNAME Taylor, Charles
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Taylor, Charles Ghankay (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Liberian politician, President of Liberia
DATE OF BIRTH January 28, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Arthington near Monrovia