Why was Charles Taylor accused of crimes against humanity? [originaltext] The

The former president of Liberia, Charles Taylor is spending his first night in custody in the Hague, awaiting trial for war crimes. The Sierra Leone Special Tribunal responsible for prosecuting war crime suspects asked for Mr. Taylor’s trial to be held in the Netherlands for security reasons. The tribunal will now sit at the International Criminal Court in the Hague. Mr. Taylor faces 11 separate charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, stemming from his alleged support for rebels in Sierra Leone during the civil war that took place there throughout the 1990s. The former head of the UN mission in Liberia Jacques Klein told the BBC it was vital that if found guilty, Mr. Taylor would be punished heavily.