A federal court in the United States has ordered the son of former Liberian president Charles Taylor to pay more than US$22 million in damages to five people tortured by his paramilitary unit during Liberia's civil war, according to news reports.
Charles McArthur Emmanuel, also known as Charles "Chuckie" Taylor Jr. denied he was responsible.
"This notion that I'm this human rights abuser, this poster boy for human rights abuse, is deceptive and propaganda," the Associated Press quoted him as saying when the civil trial ended last week.
The victims said they were submerged in water, shocked on their genitals and suffered other abuses.
The Friday ruling will "serve as a deterrent to others who believe they could mistreat fellow humans in this manner and never be held accountable," the AP quoted attorney Piper Hendricks as saying. Hendricks, an attorney with Human Rights USA, represented the Liberians along with Troy Elder, a law professor at Florida International University. His law students did research in the case.
Taylor Jr. was sentenced a year ago by the same court in the U.S. state of Florida to 97 years in prison for abuses carried out by his paramilitary Anti-Terrorist Unit. It was the first time a U.S. court convicted a person of committing human rights abuses outside the United States. Taylor Jr. is a U.S. citizen.
His father, Charles Taylor, is currently on trial in The Hague for war crimes in connection with the civil war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s.
