THE HAGUE, Netherlands, June 19 (UPI) -- The defense team for former Liberian President Charles Taylor announced plans to appeal his 50-year prison sentence for war crimes.
Taylor was sentenced in May to 50 years in prison for aiding and abetting crimes against humanity committed by rebel forces in Sierra Leone. He was convicted on 11 counts of war crimes during civil wars in the 1990s.
Voice of America confirmed Tuesday that his defense team filed an appeal to his conviction with the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
The court said Taylor knew of rebel atrocities committed in Sierra Leone during the country's 1991-2002 civil war. He was accused of using so-called blood diamonds to purchase weapons to fuel the rebellion but denies the charges.
Prosecutors, in a 77-page sentencing brief, described decapitated heads placed at checkpoints, public disembowelments, public rapes and the burning to death of civilians during the height of the war.
An estimated 50,000 people were killed in the 11-year civil war.
Taylor told the tribunal before his sentencing that "reconciliation and healing" should guide the court's principles.
