Taylor arrives in Netherlands for war crimes trial

Former Liberian president Charles Taylor arrived in the Netherlands yesterday to face trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, airport officials said.

"He arrived in Rotterdam and was picked up by officials from the Foreign Ministry," an airport official said. Mr Taylor will be held at the ICC's Scheveningen detention unit.

He faces 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for backing Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front rebels, whose drugged child soldiers killed, mutilated and raped civilians during the West African country's 1990s civil war.

Mr Taylor was flown in a UN helicopter to the country's main airport at Lungi from the compound of the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, which has charged him with war crimes and will conduct his trial in The Hague.

"I talked to Mr Taylor briefly. We didn't discuss his case, we joked around a little bit and I wished him a safe journey," court spokesman Peter Andersen said after Mr Taylor's departure.

Asked about the prisoner's mood, he said: "It's difficult to tell - he looked very serious."

The Freetown-based court said its registrar, security chief and medical officer had accompanied Taylor on the flight.

"This means that the focus can now be on the trial against Mr Taylor, who is accused of serious war crimes," Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot said in a statement.

"This is a signal from the international community that exemption from punishment will not be tolerated."