AllAfrica.com is reporting that prosecutors at the ongoing appeal hearing of ex-president Charles Taylor have asked judges of the UN backed Special Court for Sierra Leone to lengthen his prison sentence by 30 more years.
AllAfrica.com writes:
The request came at the start of Taylor’s appeal hearing Tuesday. The court sentenced Taylor to 50 years in prison last May for aiding and abetting the brutal Sierra Leonean civil war. But lawyers representing called the verdict a “miscarriage of justice” and want the conviction to be quashed.
Prosecutors want the 50 year sentence extended because former president Charles Taylor also gave rebels orders to kill, which they don’t feel is reflected in the sentencing. If the judge rules in favor of prosecutors, then Taylor’s sentence will be extended to 80 years of imprisonment. Taylor is the first former head of state to be convicted of war crimes by an international court since the Nuremberg trials of Nazis after World War II.
Read more at AllAfrica.com.
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