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Chuckie Taylor Ordered to Pay Millions in Torture Damages
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By Jennifer M. Haralambides
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa
MIAMI - A United States (US) judge ordered the son of ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor to pay over 22 million dollars to five torture victims.
Last year, the paramilitary unit led by Charles McArthur Emmanuel Taylor (Chuckie) was found to have tortured Liberian citizens during the West African nation's bloody civil war.
This same Miami federal court sentenced Chuckie to ninety seven years in prison for a criminal conviction under a US anti-torture law. He was the first person convicted by a US court under the 1994 law, which allows US charges for human rights abuses committed outside the US.
At the trial, five Liberians testified that they had been tortured and abused by the group Chuckie lead, known as the Anti-Terrorist Unit. They said they had been held in pits in the jungle that were filled chest-high with water, had been exposed to electric shocks to the genitals and other body parts, and had witnessed the killing of others by the paramilitaries.
Last weeks civil trial ended with Chuckie, who is currently in prison in Illinois, dismissing the torture allegations as deceptive propaganda.
"This notion that I'm this human rights abuser, this poster boy for human rights abuse, is deceptive and propaganda."
Human rights groups have welcomed this most recent ruling against Chuckie. Deeming it a move in the right direction. This might serve as a warning to others who commit similar abuses that they will be held accountable for their actions.
This ruling will "serve as a deterrent to others who believe they could mistreat fellow humans in this manner and never be held accountable," said Piper Hendricks, an attorney with Human Rights USA who represented the Liberians along with Troy Elder, a law professor at Florida International University (whose law students did research in the case).
Chuckie's father, Charles Taylor, is currently on trial in The Hague. He faces eleven charges including murder and rape in connection with the civil war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s.
BBC - Son of Charles Taylor Ordered to Pay Torture Damages - 6 February 2010
Washington Post - Judge Awards $22M Damages in Liberia Torture Case - 5 February 2010
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa
MIAMI - A United States (US) judge ordered the son of ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor to pay over 22 million dollars to five torture victims.
Last year, the paramilitary unit led by Charles McArthur Emmanuel Taylor (Chuckie) was found to have tortured Liberian citizens during the West African nation's bloody civil war.
This same Miami federal court sentenced Chuckie to ninety seven years in prison for a criminal conviction under a US anti-torture law. He was the first person convicted by a US court under the 1994 law, which allows US charges for human rights abuses committed outside the US.
At the trial, five Liberians testified that they had been tortured and abused by the group Chuckie lead, known as the Anti-Terrorist Unit. They said they had been held in pits in the jungle that were filled chest-high with water, had been exposed to electric shocks to the genitals and other body parts, and had witnessed the killing of others by the paramilitaries.
Last weeks civil trial ended with Chuckie, who is currently in prison in Illinois, dismissing the torture allegations as deceptive propaganda.
"This notion that I'm this human rights abuser, this poster boy for human rights abuse, is deceptive and propaganda."
Human rights groups have welcomed this most recent ruling against Chuckie. Deeming it a move in the right direction. This might serve as a warning to others who commit similar abuses that they will be held accountable for their actions.
This ruling will "serve as a deterrent to others who believe they could mistreat fellow humans in this manner and never be held accountable," said Piper Hendricks, an attorney with Human Rights USA who represented the Liberians along with Troy Elder, a law professor at Florida International University (whose law students did research in the case).
Chuckie's father, Charles Taylor, is currently on trial in The Hague. He faces eleven charges including murder and rape in connection with the civil war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s.
For more information, please see:
AllAfrica - Former Liberian Leader's Son Ordered to Pay Torture Victims - 6 February 2010BBC - Son of Charles Taylor Ordered to Pay Torture Damages - 6 February 2010
Washington Post - Judge Awards $22M Damages in Liberia Torture Case - 5 February 2010
Chuckie?
Posted by: Jared | 10 February 2010 at 15:53