Facts
Roy Belfast Jr., also known as Charles “Chuckie” Taylor Jr., is the son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor. He was born in the United States.
Shortly after Charles Taylor Sr. took office, he established the Anti-Terrorist Unit, an elite pro-government military unit. Taylor Sr. appointed Chuckie Taylor to head the unit, which he did throughout most of his father’s presidency, from 1997 to 2003.
According to trial testimony, Chuckie Taylor commanded the Anti-Terrorist Unit, that was directed to provide protection for the Liberian president and additional dignitaries of the Liberian government. Between 1999 and 2003, in his role as commander of the unit, Chuckie Taylor and his associates committed forms of torture including burning victims with molten plastic, lit cigarettes, scalding water, candle wax and an iron; severely beating victims with firearms; cutting and stabbing victims; and shocking victims with an electric device.
Procedure
In 2006, Chuckie Taylor was arrested in Florida for attempting to enter the United States under a falsified passport. After being detained for some months, criminal charges were filed against him for torture and conspiracy to commit torture.
On 30 October 2008, Chuckie Taylor was convicted by a federal jury in Miami of crimes related to the torture of people in Liberia between April 1999 and July 2003. He was convicted of five counts of torture, one count of conspiracy to torture, one count of using a firearm during the commission of a violent crime and one count of conspiracy to use a firearm during the commission of a violent crime.
On 9 January 2009, Chuckie Taylor was sentenced to 97 years in prison.
In 2010, he appealed his conviction before the Court of Appeals, arguing that Congress impermissibly expanded the prohibitions of the Convention Against Torture (CAT) through the Torture Act and that the Torture Act and U.S. firearms Statutes, under which he was convicted, could not apply to acts committed in Liberia before Liberia became a State Party to the CAT.
On 15 July 2010, the Court of Appeals rejected all of his arguments and upheld the conviction, finding that the U.S. Torture Act validly enacted the CAT and he was convicted in line with the Constitution.
Highlight
Chuckie Taylor’s prosecution on the torture charges was the first ever under the Torture Act, a statute that criminalizes torture and provides U.S. courts jurisdiction to hear cases involving acts of torture committed outside the United States if the offender is a U.S. national or is present in the United States, regardless of nationality.