Warlord Charles Taylor to be transferred to British prison

 

Charles Taylor, the former Liberian President, jailed in 2012 for war crimes, is to be transferred to a British prison, Justice Minister Jeremy Wright confirmed in London on Thursday.

 

The 65-year-old was sentenced to 50 years behind bars in May 2012 for aiding and abetting atrocities committed by a rebel group during the civil war in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

The prison term was upheld by a UN-backed court in The Hague last month, after Taylor, who served as president of Liberia between 1997 to 2003, launched an appeal to overturn the verdict.

He is the first former head of state to be jailed for war crimes since the post-World War II Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals. (dpa/NAN)