U.S. prosecutors are seeking multiple life sentences for Charles “Chuckie” Taylor Jr. for torturing people when he was chief of a brutal paramilitary unit during his father’s reign.
U.S. prosecutors are seeking multiple life sentences for Charles “Chuckie” Taylor Jr. for torturing people when he was chief of a brutal paramilitary unit during his father’s reign.
Charles McArthur Emmanuel, son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, is scheduled to be sentenced Friday. His conviction in October was the first use of a 1994 law allowing prosecution in the United States for acts of torture committed overseas.
A recent Justice Department court filing describes torture as a “flagrant and pernicious abuse of power and authority” that warrants the severe punishment of Taylor.
A jury convicted Emmanuel of torture and torture conspiracy involving seven victims and use of a firearm in a violent crime.
Witnesses described torture techniques that involved electric shocks, molten plastic, lit cigarettes, hot clothes irons, bayonets and even biting ants shoveled onto people’s bodies. Prisoners were often kept in water-filled pits covered by heavy iron grates and barbed wire.
Taylor had argued in previous court papers that he was being unfairly prosecuted for acts similar to those committed by U.S. personnel in Iraq and elsewhere. Special to the NNPA from GIN
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