Liberia's Charles Taylor to serve sentence in UK

Liberia's ex-president and warlord Charles Taylor is to serve his 50-year prison sentence for war crimes in Britain, the British government confirmed on Thursday.

"Following a request from the president of the SCSL (Special Court for Sierra Leone) to the United Kingdom, former president Taylor will now be transferred to a prison in the UK to serve that sentence," junior justice minister Jeremy Wright said in a statement to parliament.

The British government had offered to house Taylor in a British jail if he was convicted, and to cover the costs of his imprisonment.

"The United Kingdom's offer to enforce any sentence imposed on former president Taylor by the SCSL was crucial to ensuring that he could be transferred to The Hague to stand trial for his crimes," Wright said.

The UN-backed court dismissed Taylor's appeal against his sentence on September 26.

The sentence -- on 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity -- was the first handed down by an international court against a former head of state since the Nazi trials at Nuremberg in 1946.

As Liberia's president from 1997 to 2003, Taylor aided and abetted rebels by supplying guns and ammunition during the conflict which was notorious for its mutilations, drugged child soldiers and sex slaves, judges in his trial found.

"The conviction of Charles Taylor is a landmark moment for international justice," Wright said.

"It clearly demonstrates that those who commit atrocities will be held to account and that no matter their position they will not enjoy impunity."