05:45 AM ET
Former Liberian leader Taylor sentenced to 50 years for war crimes
The Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague, Netherlands, on Wednesday sentenced Charles Taylor, former president of Liberia, to 50 years in prison for war crimes committed in the civil war of neighboring country Sierra Leone over the course of five years.
Taylor, president of Liberia from 1997 to 2003, was convicted last month of aiding rebels in neighboring Sierra Leone in a campaign of terror, involving murder, rape, sexual slavery and the conscription children younger than 15.
There is no death penalty in international criminal law.
The former Liberian president does not see himself as a war criminal but as a victim - a leader wronged by corruption and a hypocritical hand of justice with a political agenda.
"I never stood a chance," he said. "Only time will tell how many other African heads of state will be destroyed."
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