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Landmark judgments will today be delivered in the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor - charged with sponsoring brutal rebel groups in neighbouring Sierra Leone's civil war.
Prosecutors alleged at Taylor's trial that the charismatic war lord-turned elected president funnelled arms, ammunition and even mining equipment to rebels in return for blood diamonds and power in the volatile West African region.
Taylor insists he is an innocent victim of neocolonialism and a political process aimed at preventing him from returning to power in Liberia.
Verdict: Landmark judgments will today be delivered in the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor - charged with sponsoring brutal rebel groups in neighbouring Sierra Leone's civil war
Allegations: Prosecutors said Taylor funnelled arms, ammunition and even mining equipment to rebels in return for blood diamonds and power in the volatile West African region
Leader: In seven months testifying in his own defence, at an international war crimes tribunal, he cast himself as a peacemaker and statesman in West Africa
In seven months testifying in his own defence, at an international war crimes tribunal, he cast himself as a peacemaker and statesman in West Africa.
But prosecutors dispute that and called two vicious rebel groups Taylor's 'proxy army'.
They were notorious for hacking off limbs of their enemies in what became the signature atrocity of Sierra Leone's bloody civil war.
Taylor pleaded not guilty at the Special Court for Sierra Leone to 11 charges including murder, sexual slavery and recruiting child soldiers.
Warlord: As president of Liberia from 1997-2003, Taylor has been accused of war crimes including the employment child soldiers, rape and murder in the brutal war against neighbouring Sierra Leone
WAR-LORD ON TRIAL FOR CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITYThe international Special Court based in Sierra Leone indicted Taylor in June 2003 on 17 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
But it condensed the charges to 11 counts in 2006 to ensure a focused trial.
He pleaded not guilty to them all. He was transferred to the Special Court in March 2006 and then to The Hague three months later.
The trial opened in June 2007 in The Hague. Taylor boycotted the initial proceedings and dismissed his legal team.
The trial was adjourned until new counsel could be assigned.
Witness testimony began in January 2008, and ended in November 2010. Closing arguments took place in February and March 2011.
The court heard live testimony from over 90 prosecution witnesses, and received written statements from four additional witnesses. The defence presented 21 witnesses.
Court hearings included testimony from supermodel Naomi Campbell about a gift of diamonds from Taylor.
He faces a maximum life sentence, to be served in a high-security prison in Britain, if convicted. His trial ended a year ago and judges have been considering their verdicts ever since.
If he is found guilty, Taylor would be the first African head of state convicted by an international court.But whatever the verdict, the losing side is likely to appeal, meaning the trial could easily last for another six months.
He may not be the last African head of state convicted. Former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo is also jailed in The Hague awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court.
He is on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed as he attempted to cling to power last year after losing a presidential election.
The same court also has indicted Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir on charges including genocide for his regime's brutal crackdown on rebels in Darfur.
Al-Bashir remains at large in his country, which does not recognize the ICC. The verdicts - whatever they are - will be a watershed moment for international justice.
The only other head of state convicted by an international tribunal was Karl Doenitz, a naval officer who briefly led Germany after Adolf Hitler's suicide, who faced justice at Nuremberg.
Elise Keppler, international justice senior counsel at Human Rights Watch, said delivering justice is vital to nations struggling to rebuild in the aftermath of atrocities.
She said: 'Sierra Leone and other countries in West Africa have been devastated by horrific human rights abuses.
'Justice for the worst crimes is a way to bring a new era in Sierra Leone and West Africa and promote a human rights-respecting order.'
Ex-Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was tried at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal for fomenting the Balkan wars of the 1990s. But he suffered a fatal heart attack in his cell before the case reached a conclusion.
Prosecutors at the same court are close to wrapping up a case against former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, accused of masterminding genocide during Bosnia's 1992-95 war.
The ICC last year indicted Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi with crimes against humanity as he resorted to murdering and persecuting civilians to put down protests against his regime.
But he was captured and killed by rebel fighters before he could face a court of law.
Taylor - who once received military training from Gaddafi's regime and was president of Liberia from 1997 to 2003 - was indicted in 2003 on charges including murder, terrorising civilians, rape and sexual slavery.
He was also accused of recruiting and using child soldiers during the Sierra Leone war that ended in 2002 after costing more than 50,000 lives.
He was said to have given his backing and orders to Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in the 11-year civil war in neighbouring Sierra Leone that killed some 50,000 people.
The prosecution said the RUF undermined a ceasefire agreement in 1999, prolonging the war for another three years, and that Taylor financed their war effort from the proceeds of 'blood diamonds' mined illegally in Sierra Leone.
'The Taylor verdict is a watershed moment, however it turns out,' said Richard Dekker, head of the international justice programme at Human Rights Watch.
'As president, Taylor is believed to have been responsible for so much murder and mayhem which unfolded in Sierra Leone. His was a shadow that loomed across the region, in the Ivory Coast, in Sierra Leone and Liberia.'
Decision: A judgment will be passed today at the International Court in The Hague
Claims: Naomi Campbell (right) allegedly accepted a 'blood diamond' from the former African despot. She said she was given it by unknown men. Mia Farrow (centre) contradicted this, as did Campbell's former agent Carole White (left) who said Campbell knew Taylor sent two men to her room to give her the precious stones
MAN WHO HAD HAND HACKED OFF SAYS WOUNDS MAY FINALLY HEALRebel fighters hacked off Jabati Mambu's right hand more than 13 years ago in Sierra Leone.
This week, Mambu says his wounds may finally be healed.
For Mambu, the Taylor verdicts promise closure 10 years since the end of the war.
It cost a staggering 50,000 lives.
He said: 'The trial is very important to all victims because it will help to heal our wounds.'
The crimes of the RUF are not in doubt. Courts have earlier convicted RUF fighters of crimes against humanity, including rape, torture and terrorism.
Civilians were mutilated during the conflict, their arms being cut off above the hand (known by fighters as 'long sleeves') or above the elbow ('short sleeves').
Trial witnesses described seeing children and pregnant women being shot, disembowelled or mutilated in a process aimed at creating terror in the civilian population. But the challenge was to link Taylor to these crimes.
Civilians were mutilated during the conflict, their arms being cut off above the hand (known by fighters as 'long sleeves') or above the elbow ('short sleeves').
Trial witnesses described seeing children and pregnant women being shot, disembowelled or mutilated in a process aimed at creating terror in the civilian population. But the challenge was to link Taylor to these crimes.
'The accused never set foot in Sierra Leone when these crimes were being committed. He never directly, physically committed these crimes,' said Brenda Hollis, the court's chief prosecutor.
'In a domestic case, you have to prove there was a murder, we have the added level of proving linkage.'
Supermodel Naomi Campbell was summoned to give testimony to the court.
The prosecution said Taylor had sent uncut diamonds to her hotel room after a 2010 dinner given by former South African president Nelson Mandela, attended by both her and Taylor.
She told the court she had no idea who had sent her the diamonds, which she called 'dirty little pebbles'. But her testimony was contradicted by others who said she knew fully well they had come from.
Taylor was arrested in 2006 and flown to The Hague for trial.
He has been free to mix with his fellow inmates and he has maintained 'cordial' relations with his old enemy Gbagbo, who faces charges of crimes against humanity.
Taylor has also been known to cook and compare defence briefs with Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo.
As he awaits the verdict, he has immersed himself in study of the Jewish faith, to which he converted before arriving in The Hague.
'In a domestic case, you have to prove there was a murder, we have the added level of proving linkage.'
Supermodel Naomi Campbell was summoned to give testimony to the court.
The prosecution said Taylor had sent uncut diamonds to her hotel room after a 2010 dinner given by former South African president Nelson Mandela, attended by both her and Taylor.
She told the court she had no idea who had sent her the diamonds, which she called 'dirty little pebbles'. But her testimony was contradicted by others who said she knew fully well they had come from.
Taylor was arrested in 2006 and flown to The Hague for trial.
He has been free to mix with his fellow inmates and he has maintained 'cordial' relations with his old enemy Gbagbo, who faces charges of crimes against humanity.
Taylor has also been known to cook and compare defence briefs with Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo.
As he awaits the verdict, he has immersed himself in study of the Jewish faith, to which he converted before arriving in The Hague.
He has regular visits from a rabbi and does not receive his lawyers on the Sabbath. He remains preoccupied with politics, following last year's upheavals in North Africa with avid interest.
Taylor's is the final major trial at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, which has already convicted eight other rebel leaders.
The court's headquarters and courtroom are in the capital, Freetown, but Taylor's case was moved to The Hague after the UN Security Council said trying him in Sierra Leone could destabilise the West Africa region.
Jabati Mambu, whose right hand was hacked off by rebels more than 13 years ago attended the start of the trial and cannot wait for its conclusion.
'The trial is very important to all victims because it will help to heal our wounds,' he said in Freetown, the Sierra Leone capital where he lost his hand.
Taylor's is the final major trial at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, which has already convicted eight other rebel leaders.
The court's headquarters and courtroom are in the capital, Freetown, but Taylor's case was moved to The Hague after the UN Security Council said trying him in Sierra Leone could destabilise the West Africa region.
Jabati Mambu, whose right hand was hacked off by rebels more than 13 years ago attended the start of the trial and cannot wait for its conclusion.
'The trial is very important to all victims because it will help to heal our wounds,' he said in Freetown, the Sierra Leone capital where he lost his hand.
Diamonds: Miners from Sierra Leone working in the diamond fields outside Koidu town in Kono district, eastern Sierra Leone
Culled from The Daily Mail UK.
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