Liberia torture case to be tried in U.S.

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Thu, Dec. 07, 2006email thisprint this
MIAMI
Liberia torture case to be tried in U.S.
U.S. authorities used a 1994 federal law for the first time to bring torture charges in Miami against the son of the former president of Liberia.
BY JAY WEAVER
[e-mail]

A federal grand jury in Miami Wednesday indicted the son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor on torture charges in the first U.S. criminal case of its kind.

Charles Taylor Jr., 29, accused of committing atrocities in Liberia as the former head of a paramilitary unit in his father's government, is in custody at the Federal Detention Center in Miami. He faces sentencing today on a separate passport-fraud conviction.

The case against the son, a U.S. citizen born in Boston who is known as ''Chuckie'' Taylor, is being built around a 1994 federal torture statute.

The law allows the U.S. government to prosecute anyone suspected of carrying out torture outside the United States as long as the suspect is a U.S. citizen, legal resident or is present in this country, regardless of nationality, according to U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta. He announced the Taylor indictment at a news conference Wednesday in Washington.
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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/16181572.htm

[annabanana]

1. If the U.S. Government ordered them to torture,

can they be tried under this statute?

[jody]

2. Looks like Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld could be tried under that law. n/t

[aquart]

3. WE are going to try someone for torture? US? With a straight face?

[saigon68]

4. Its just a Frat Prank