A five-minute primer on an issue making headlines
He labels himself as a Baptist preacher and ruled Liberia for six years. Now, as the world's third-most-wanted man, former African warlord Charles Taylor faces 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity in a UN-backed court.
Why was Taylor charged with war crimes?
A quarter of a million people died in the Liberian civil war, triggered by Taylor, which was closely linked to a brutal conflict in neighbouring Sierra Leone.
Prosecutors accuse Taylor of backing Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebel group that raped and mutilated civilians between 1991 and 2002. They were involved in cannibalism, chopping off opponents' limbs and sexual slavery.
The charges accuse Taylor of selling arms to the group in return for diamonds to fund his own corrupt regime.
What do we know about his background?
