Former Liberian president Charles Taylor has asked the International Criminal Court to let him serve his prison sentence in Rwanda after the appeals chamber of International Criminal Court rejected his appeal against a 50-year prison sentence.
Taylor was sentenced in May 2012 for aiding rebels who committed atrocities in Sierra Leone during its civil war. His lawyers had argued that there were legal errors during his trial.
The 65 year old was found to have supplied weapons to the Revolutionary United Front rebels in exchange for a constant flow of so-called blood diamonds. He was also found guilty at his trial of 11 crimes including terrorism, rape, murder and the use of child soldiers by rebel groups in neighboring Sierra Leone during the vicious civil war of 1991-2002.
Taylor told the court that the reason he wants to be imprisoned in Rwanda because of the favorable weather and food, and that he wants to be near other international prisoners who are also imprisoned in Rwanda.
He also added that he does not want to lose his cultural roots, something that he feels will happen if he serves his jail term in the UK
speechlog.com
