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 THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - Former Liberian President Charles Taylor was taken to a Dutch prison Tuesday to await a U.N. war crimes trial for the killing, rape or mutilation of hundreds of thousands in West Africa.
Taylor — the second sitting head of state to be indicted for war crimes — came to Rotterdam aboard a U.N.-chartered plane from Sierra Leone, where he had been in custody since March 29. His hands cuffed in front of him, he was whisked away in a black Mercedes van flanked by five uniformed police motorcyclists.
Taylor faces charges stemming from his alleged backing of Sierra Leonean rebels, who terrorized victims by chopping off their arms, legs, ears and lips during that country's 1991-2002 civil war. He also has been linked to violence in Liberia and elsewhere in West Africa.
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