LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Taylor was convicted of helping plan war crimes with Revolutionary United Front rebels in Sierra Leone. Taylor traded arms with them in return for so-called blood diamonds. The rebels were known for amputating limbs, raping women and girls during their 1991-2002 reign of terror. Among their most odious practices were the recruitment and use of child soldiers and forcing girls and women to become sex slaves.

Taylor was convicted last month on 11 counts of terrorism, murder, rape, sexual slavery, outrages on personal dignity, conscripting child soldiers, enslavement and pillage. He will serve his prison sentence in Britain.

Judge Richard Lussick, pronouncing Taylor's sentence in the Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague said that while Taylor had never set foot in Sierra Leone he had left a heavy footprint there. He said the effect of Taylor's crimes on families of the victims was "devastating."

"The accused has been found responsible for aiding and abetting, as well as planning, some of the most heinous and brutal crimes recorded in human history," the judge said.

He said the court found when weighing its sentence that Taylor's abuse of his positions as president and member of the West African regional leadership body ECOWAS was "an aggravating factor of great weight."

Lussick added that while convictions for aiding and abetting in crimes generally warranted lower prison terms, this was not the case for Taylor, whose leadership role "puts him in a class of his own."

Prosecutors had originally sought an 80-year sentence to reflect the central role that Taylor played in the Sierra Leone conflict, his lawyers rejected claims he played a central part and requested a proportionate sentence.

Courtenay Griffiths, one of the defense attorneys, said the sentence in effect meant Taylor would die in prison. Brenda Hollis, Chief of the prosecution team says that the prosecution also would study the judgment and decide whether to mount an appeal. She said the sentence brought some measure of justice "for those lucky enough to survive."

"The sentence today does not replace amputated limbs, does not bring back those who have been murdered or forced to become sexual slaves," Hollis said.

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