The son of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor has beenconvicted in the southern US state of Florida on charges of torture andcommitting atrocities. Chuckie Taylor's conviction stems from his role as theleader of a so-called anti-terrorist unit, known as the Demon Forces, thatoperated under his father's rule. Prosecutors say the unit was really used toattack the opposition and train soldiers to fight in neighboring countries,such as Sierra Leone.
SyracuseUniversity Law Professor David Crane is the former chief prosecutor of theSpecial Court for Sierra Leone, who signed the indictment against CharlesTaylor. Taylor is now on trial at a courtroom at The Hague for war crimes andcrimes against humanity. Professor Crane spoke to VOA English to Africa Servicereporter Joe De Capua about Charles "Chuckie" Taylor.
"CharlesTaylor, or Chuckie Taylor of course, he goes by several names. Charles ChuckieTaylor Junior, also known as Charles McArthur Emmanuel, was an Americancitizen. And was coming back to the United States after his father was finallyhanded over to the Special Court for Sierra Leone for a fair and just trial andhe got popped (arrested)?basically on a passport violation. And he was dealtwith there and then. The US Justice Department realized they had a littlemonster on their hands -- someone who tortured people as head of theanti-terrorism unit -- and charged him with five counts related to that tortureand he was convicted on three," he says.
Reactingto the guilty verdict, Crane says, "I always thought?it's about the victims.It's called justice. Chuckie Taylor was an apple that really didn't fall veryfar from the tree."
InMiami, US Attorney R. Alexander Acosta has called the conviction "historic."But Crane says, "Certainly, it's important. I'm not sure it's historic.Certainly, he's the first American, I think, to be convicted on the torturestatute, but it is significant."
Andhe says that the conviction sends a message. "It sends messages to US citizens,who move about the world or who are involved with those who are committing warcrimes and crimes against humanity, that they certainly open themselves upunder US law for a possible indictments if they are profiting or being a partof organizations, governments, what have you, that in fact cause torture tohappen in another part of the world," he says.