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MIAMI – Charles McArthur Emmanuel, also known as Chuckie Taylor, owes five Liberian victims more than $22 million in damages for torturing and persecuting them while he headed the infamous Liberian Anti-Terrorism Unit under his father’s dictatorial rule, according to a ruling issued today in federal court.
Florida International University’s College of Law, through its Carlos A. Costa Immigration and Human Rights Clinic, represented five Liberians in a 13-month-long civil trial that argued Chuckie Taylor imposed irreversible physical and psychological damage on the plaintiffs.
“The victims have finally had their day in court in this case,” said Troy Elder, director of the clinic and co-counsel in the case. “They suffered unspeakable horrors, crossed an ocean and faced their attacker, and now, even though money can never undo the damage that has been done to them, Miami federal court has sent a clear message that torture is unacceptable in a civilized society. It also is amazing that our student lawyers were able to defeat in civil court someone who was once so feared.”
Chuckie Taylor is the son of former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor, who is currently being prosecuted in The Hague. In 1997, Chuckie Taylor was appointed by his father to the position of commander of an elite special forces group known as the Liberian Anti-Terrorism Unit (ATI).
The trial follows Chuckie Taylor’s 2008 conviction under the Convention Against Torture, when he was found guilty and sentenced to 97 years in federal prison.
“Our students and law clinic did outstanding work in this case,” said College of Law Dean R. Alexander Acosta, who as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida prosecuted Chuckie Taylor under the Convention Against Torture. “The victims suffered incomprehensible pain at the hands of Mr. Taylor, and I hope the judgment that our law clinic worked to achieve will help them to repair their lives.”
In his decision, U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan described Chuckie Taylor’s acts as “a chilling example to man’s inhumanity to man.”
The Carlos A. Costa Immigration and Human Rights Clinic at FIU’s College of Law allows students taking part in the clinic to act as student attorneys on behalf of disadvantaged immigrants from all over the world. The clinic has also recently expanded to provide assistance in areas of international human rights work in various countries.
Media Contact: Jean-Paul Renaud at 305-348-2716.
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FIU law students to represent victims in final hearing of torture trial for Chuckie Taylor
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Great job… now it's time to prosecute the American war criminals responsible for 1,000's of lost lives in Iraq…!
John you are clueless, as an FIU alumnus who has actually served in Iraq, witnessed terrorism first hand and caught terrorists I feel fairly comfortable in saying all you know is what someone else (usually some inflammatory news organization) has force fed you. If you're so quick to judge why not suit up and move out to see the lengths we expose ourselves to in order to protect millions of Iraqis, mostly from themselves. Quit making judgments from the comfort of your home. By the way most Iraqis were killed through sectarian violence and insurgent bombing campaigns. Note: the US military doesn't fight with car bombs (VBIEDs) so maybe you should take that up with the terrorists.
Ragarding Steve Breens comment, I would ask him to question the false flag methods used by the previous administration to galvanize support for what has become an unethical and illegal occupation of Iraq. I hear your arguemts, however I would hardly call NPR inflammatory or biased and, as for me, I continue to be open to all discourse and while it is easy to justify a position; most iraqis killed due to sectarian violence and insurgent bombing campaigns or that Iraqi insurgents are fighting against occupation.
Steve, I'm not questioning you personally I'm simply questioning the legality of the act of falsifying facts that brought us into Iraq and directly caused a loss of life and property to both Americans and Iraqis.
WAMU's Diane Rhem had an interesting discussion with Mark Kurlansky whose book "Nonviolence: 25 Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea" offers ideas that can lead to a tipping point in human behavior and cause us to question the conventions that lead us to believe war is the only answer or option.
Here's a link to the radio archive: http://wamu.org/audio/dr/06/09/r2060912-11187.asx
and for the entire segment: http://wamu.org/programs/dr/06/09/12.php
Hardly an illegal war given that Desert Storm ended with a ceasefire upon which hostilities (war) could be resumed if the Iraqis didn't abide by the terms which included unfettered inspections. They violated it (yes this is also why Clinton launched attacks as well) which meant the U.S. had the immediate right to resume hostilities. In addition to that the U.S. obtained numerous UN and domestic resolutions which legally authorized the use of force both internationally and nationally. Get past the rhetoric and into the facts. We are professional Soldiers, Marines,Sailors and Airmenwho hold others accountable not a bunch of marauding pirates perpetrating illegal acts. As for matters of intelligence much is open to interpretation and the Iraqis continually refused to cooperate and schemed to falsify other facts. As for your nonviolence approach try talking into peace those same insurgents who killed thousands of innocent men, women and children with their tactics not ours. You might also want to take a look at the hundreds of mass graves we uncovered or any of the other true war crimes committed by Saddam or the insurgents. Before you accuse those who risk their lives and leave their families of being war criminals you may want to spend some time truly understanding the issues. If you think talking to these terrorists is going to make a difference I know a few places you could visit in Iraq. Of course by then you'll be calling us "War Criminals" to come rescue you. There is a reality in the world you do not know for it must be lived not read and the cost of admission could be your life, get on the ground and then we who have gone will judge you. You quick comments have dishonored all those in Uniform both the living and the dead. In your world Saddam would still be in power perpetrating acts so horrible that the news still refuses to air the tapes, film, photos and bodies.
Iraq has not had terrorists in their country before the war. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 or any other terrorist attacks. Ultimately there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq – Remember those?.
Gee Dennis again another person who doesn't bother to know the facts. There were actually numerous terrorists in Iraq before the war began, try Abu Nidal, Abu Abbas and dozens of others all who killed Americans. As for weapons of mass destruction we were able to uncover various munitions (mostly indirect fire rounds and air tanks), numerous precursers and idenified labs that were on standby to resume production. Note: following the first Gulf War for those that don't remember US forces along with international inspectors located and destroyed an extensive stockpile of nuclear, bio and chem weapons. However the Iraqis according to their own records could not account for hundreds of tons of chemical weapons, certain nuclear components and various other material. It still remains missing to this day, a fact that is not disputed!!!! Saddam refused to comply with inspections, refused to provide information on chem, bio and nuclear prgs and did everything possible to obstruct an international body of inspectors. This is why many in the international community were unsatisfied with the accounting of such material in Iraq. If Saddam would have complied he would probably still be in power but those FACTS seem to escape most people.
Additionally terrorism is not confined to the sequence of events that took place on 9/11. Terrorism existed far before and will exist far after. Terrorists move around to take advantage of certain conditions and certain targets. Their world is a fluid battlespace and no one here is saying Iraq had anything to do with 9/11. Rather after 9/11 is was time to stop pussyfooting with Saddam. Again it's so easy for everyone to jump on the BS bus and be lazy by repeating what other lazy uniformed people want to say w/o any regard to the facts. Try spending some time doing real research it's what people are supposed to learn to do for themselved while in college.
Note: the comment below should correctly have stated nuclear componets, chemical and biological weapons. The correction is nuclear componets not nuclear weapons.
Did anyone watch Bill Moyers' Journal on PBS last night? The episode was titled, " Justice at Stake: Is Campaign Money Corrupting Our Courts?" It looked at 3 of the 39 states where judges are elected (PA, LA and TX). It pointed out that in Louisiana, Tulane Law School had a setup similar to that at FIU, and that the governor convinced the legislature to change their "Rule XX" to make it more difficult for the students to help out lower class clients. To view the episode or the transcript, go to PBS.org, click on Bill Moyers' Journal and select the 2/19/10 episode. If this trend continues into other states, the poor will need help – badly.