Appeals court upholds torture conviction, sentence for son of former Liberian president Taylor

Court upholds torture conviction of Taylor’s son

MIAMI — A federal appeals court has upheld the torture convictions and 97-year sentence imposed on the son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor.

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also upheld Thursday the constitutionality of a law allowing U.S. prosecution for overseas torture that was used for the first time in the case of Charles McArthur Emmanuel, also known as Chuckie Taylor.

Emmanuel, a U.S. citizen, was convicted in 2008 in Miami of torturing people while head of a notorious Liberian paramilitary unit. A Miami judge later awarded some of those victims $22 million in damages in a civil case.

Charles Taylor is on trial before an international tribunal for crimes during Sierra Leone’s civil war.