X-Liberian President Charles Taylor to be sentenced

Former Liberian President Charles Taylor is to be sentenced for war crimes by a UN court in The Hague.

Last month Taylor was found guilty of aiding and abetting rebels in Sierra Leone during the 1991-2002 civil war.

The prosecution at the Special Court for Sierra Leone is now pressing for an 80-year prison term, which the defence says is excessive.

Taylor, 64, insists he is innocent and is likely to appeal whatever the sentence is, correspondents say.

The appeal process could last up to six months, the BBC's Anna Holligan in The Hague reports.

'Savage crimes'

In its landmark ruling in April, the Special Court for Sierra Leone found Taylor guilty on 11 counts, relating to atrocities that included rape and murder.

In response, Taylor accused the prosecution of paying and threatening witnesses in his war crimes trial.

He also told the judges to consider his age when making their decision, saying he was "no threat to society".

And he condemned atrocities across the world, and had the "deepest sympathy" for victims in Sierra Leone, but stopped short of expressing remorse or apologising for his part in the conflict.

The prosecutors have said that Taylor's ill health and age, or the fact that he has a family, should have no impact on the sentence.

In written filings, prosecutors said a sentence of 80 years would reflect the severity of the crimes and the central role that Taylor had in facilitating them.

"The purposely cruel and savage crimes committed included public executions and amputations of civilians, the display of decapitated heads at checkpoints... public rapes of women and girls, and people burned alive in their homes," wrote prosecutor Brenda Hollis.

But defence lawyers said the recommended sentence was "manifestly disproportionate and excessive", and that Taylor had only been found guilty of an indirect role - aiding the rebels, rather than leading them.

They said their client should not be made to shoulder the blame alone for what happened in Sierra Leone's war.

The court should not support "attempts by the prosecution to provide the Sierra Leoneans with this external bogey man upon whom can be heaped the collective guilt of a nation for its predominantly self-inflicted wounds", his lawyers wrote.

During the Sierra Leone civil war, Taylor supported Revolutionary United Front rebels who killed tens of thousands of people.

The war crimes included murder, rape, the use of child soldiers and the amputation of limbs. In return, Taylor received "blood diamonds".

Under a special arrangement with the international court, any prison term Taylor does receive will be served in Britain.

-BBC