LIBERIAN warlord Charles Taylor has begun his appeal against a 50-year prison sentence handed down by Sierra Leone's UN-backed special court for fuelling the west African nation's savage civil war.
Taylor, wearing a black suit, white shirt and red tie, listened intently on Tuesday as the prosecution began its appeal at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, headquartered in Leidschendam outside The Hague.
The court should "hold responsible not only those who perpetrate the crimes but also those who promote them", said prosecutor Nicholas Koumjian.
"They are just as important, including the lords of war who sell arms in these conflicts," he said.
The court's sentence last May against Taylor, 64, for "some of the most heinous crimes in human history" was widely welcomed around the world at the time.
Judges said he aided and abetted rebel forces fighting against Freetown during Sierra Leone's 10-year civil war, known for its mutilations, drugged child soldiers and sex slaves.
In return, trial judges found, Taylor was paid in "blood diamonds" mined by slave labour in areas kept under the control of ruthless Sierra Leonean rebels.
But prosecutors argue that trial judges made a mistake by only convicting Taylor of aiding and abetting the notorious Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and other rebel groups.
They say the court should have convicted Taylor for actively issuing orders to the RUF and its ally, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC).
Taylor was convicted of aiding and abetting terrorism, murder and rape, committed by the RUF, who waged a terror campaign during a civil war that claimed 120,000 lives between 1991 and 2001.
The initial trial, which saw model Naomi Campbell testify she had received a gift of "dirty" diamonds, said to be from the flamboyant Taylor, wrapped up in March 2011.
His sentence was the first handed down against a former head of state in an international court since the Nazi trials at Nuremberg in 1946.
Koumjian said that as a result, the trial is "of great consequence".
Tuesday's hearing was dominated by particularly complex legal arguments - with both sides saying judges made legal mistakes in convicting Taylor in April last year and sentencing him in May.
The prosecution wants Taylor jailed for 80 years, "in order to reflect the totality of his overall conduct and culpability".
The prosecution attacked Taylor's lawyers, who they said would argue that the former warlord had merely benefited by obtaining blood diamonds.
Appeals judges are expected to have a decision by September, with the Liberian ex-president remaining behind bars at the UN's detention unit in The Hague until appeals proceedings are finalised.
If his appeal fails, Taylor will serve his sentence in a British jail.
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