MIAMI (AP)— A federal jury on Thursday convicted the son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor in the first case brought under a 1994 U.S. law allowing prosecution for torture and atrocities committed overseas.
Charles McArthur Emmanuel, also known as Charles ”Chuckie” Taylor Jr., was convicted of torture, firearms and conspiracy charges on the second day of jury deliberations. He faces life in prison, with sentencing set for Jan. 9.
Prosecutors said the 31-year-old Emmanuel was involved in killings and torture as head of an elite Antiterrorist Unit in his father’s government also known as the ”Demon Forces.” From 1999 to 2002, Emmanuel’s job was to use his paramilitary soldiers to silence opposition to Taylor and train soldiers for conflict in neighboring African countries, according to trial testimony.
Charles Taylor is on trial before a United Nations tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for allegedly overseeing the murder, rape and mutilation of thousands of people during Sierra Leone’s bloody 10-year civil war.
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