The ex-Liberian president faces an 80-year term in a UK prison for aiding and equipping rebels in Sierra Leone’s civil war, and for his role in rape, murder, and the conscription of child soldiers.
The 64-year-old was convicted on 11 charges, including numerous atrocities that led to the deaths of 50,000 people.
“Sadly I am saddled with those findings today as you consider what sentence to impose,” Mr Taylor told the Special Court for Sierra Leone in the Hague.
Mr Taylor was allowed to address the court to argue that his conviction and harsh sentence were a result of prosecutors who “purchased” witness evidence and threatened witnesses with prosecution themselves if they did not cooperate.
“Money played a corrupting, influencing, significant and dominant role in this trial,” he said.
The supermodel Naomi Campbell was among witnesses called to testify. She was questioned about a bag of “dirty-looking stones” given to her by Taylor’s aides after a dinner hosted by Nelson Mandela in 1997.
The prosecution alleged they were some of the blood diamonds given to Taylor by rebels in exchange for funding and arms. The defence claimed this was speculation.
Much of the prosecution’s case revolved around evidence by radio operators, who allegedly kept him in contact with rebel groups. Taylor described the accusations as “despicable lies”.
He added: “The prosecution received millions from the US government outside the process”, noting the accounting of how much was paid and where it was spent has not been made public.
He is the first head of state to be convicted by an international court since the post-World War II Nuremberg military tribunal and will be sentenced on 30 May. He denied all charges, describing himself as a statesman and peacemaker in west Africa. His defence was thwarted by the length of his five-year-long trial.
“Taylor’s trial began in 2007 and went on for so long that that a number of his accused co-conspirators, including Foday Sankoh, founder of the Revolutionary United Front, died before any court could judge them,” said Roger Sahota, a lawyer involved in the case.
The former leader was cleared of charges of planning the crimes, however.
“The trial chamber finds the accused cannot be held responsible for ordering the crimes. The trial chamber, having already found the accused guilty of aiding and abetting, does not find the accused also instigated these crimes,” Judge Lussick found.
The verdict came after more than 100 witnesses and 50,000 pages of transcripts at the special court which was set up in the wake of Sierra Leone’s bloody civil war. British and UN troops intervened to stop the brutality in 2002, along with west African forces.
“The indictment against Mr Taylor was in retrospect overambitious as the court in its judgement rejected the prosecution’s case that Mr Taylor exercised command and control over rebel forces or directed a wider joint criminal enterprise,” Mr Sahota said.