Former Liberian president Charles Taylor stands to hear the verdict in his trial for war crimes in Sierra Leone.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDING JUDGE RICHARD LUSSICK:<br/> <br />"The trial chamber unanimously finds you guilty of aiding and abetting the commission of the following crimes"<br/> <br />The United Nations backed court in the Hague charged 64 year old Taylor with 11 counts of murder, rape, conscripting child soldiers and sexual slavery.<br/> <br />The crimes took place during the 11 year civil war in Sierra Leone, during which more than 50,000 people were killed.<br/> <br />The court took more than two hours to read out the charges, evidence, and final ruling, during which the graphic nature of the crimes were made clear.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDING JUDGE RICHARD LUSSICK:<br/> <br />"A civilian was killed in full public view and then his body was disembowelled and his intestines stretched across the road to make a checkpoint. Women and girls were raped in public; people were burned alive in their homes."<br/> <br />Taylor denied the charges, insisting he tried to bring peace to the region and arguing his trial was politically motivated.<br/> <br />He becomes the first former head of state to be convicted of war crimes.<br/> <br />Simon Hanna, Reuters.
