Taylor was
found guilty by
The Special Court For Sierra Leone, on April 26, 2012 of 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity including terrorism, murder, rape and using child soldiers, AlJazeera reports. In May of that year, he was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
He was found to have given weapons to the
Revolutionary United Front rebels in exchange for a constant flow of
"blood diamonds," BBC News reports.
He has always maintained his innocence and claims his only contact with the rebels was to plead with them to stop fighting during the
Sierra Leone Civil War which lasted from 1991-2002.
Taylor became the first former head of state to be convicted by an international war crimes court since the
Nuremberg Trials.
