Charles McArther Emmanuel (born February 12, 1978), also known as Chuckie Taylor, is the son of Charles Taylor, the former

President of Liberia The president of the Republic of Liberia is the head of state and government of Liberia. The president serves as the leader of the executive branch and as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Liberia. Prior to the independence of Liberia ...

.Ex-prisoner: Taylor's son laughed at torture
." ''

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

''. September 30, 2008. Raised by his mother in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

until he was 16, Taylor Jr. travelled to

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

in 1994 to live with his father, who in turn enrolled him in the

Accra Academy Accra Academy is a Non-denominational Christianity, non-denominational Day School, day and Boarding School, boarding Single-sex education, boys' school. It is located at Bubuashie near Kaneshie in the Greater Accra Region. The school was establishe ...

, an elite boarding school in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. He later attended the College of West Africa in Monrovia. During his father's presidency, Emmanuel became the commander of the infamously violent

Anti-Terrorist Unit Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

(ATU), commonly known in Liberia as the "Demon Forces". He is currently serving a 97-year sentence in the United States for his role in

human rights violations Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...

carried out by the ATU.

Early life

Born on February 12, 1978, in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Emmanuel lived much of his life in

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...

, with his mother, Bernice Emmanuel, a college girlfriend of Taylor. Fearful of Taylor's attempting to claim custody of Emmanuel, his mother had his name legally changed to Roy Belfast Jr., the name of her husband. His house, in a neighborhood described as "

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Commo ...

", was away from

Universal Orlando Resort Universal Orlando Resort, commonly known as Universal Orlando or simply Universal, formerly Universal Studios Escape, is an American theme park and entertainment resort complex based in Orlando, Florida. The resort is operated by Universal Par ...

.Weimar, Carrie.
Liberian torture case traces back to Orlando
" ''

St. Petersburg Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...

''. February 6, 2007. He attended

Maynard Evans High School Maynard Evans High School is a high school located in Orlando, Florida, United States, served by Orange County Public Schools. The school's name is often shortened to "Evans High School" or "E-HIGH", and the mascot for the school are the Trojans. ...

. In 1994, when he was a teenager he was involved in an altercation with deputies of

Orange County, Florida Orange County is located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,429,908, making it Florida's fifth most populous county. The county seat is Orlando. Orange County is the central county ...

. Afterward, Emmanuel moved to Liberia to live with his father, who in turn enrolled him in the

, an elite boarding school in

. Emmanuel was expelled, and according to Johnny Dwyer of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', possession of alcohol and illegal drugs was reportedly the reason. He later attended the

College of West Africa The College of West Africa is a Methodist high school in Monrovia, Liberia. The school was opened in 1839 (as the "Monrovia Seminary"), making it one of the oldest European-style schools in Africa. It has produced many of Liberia's leaders. Alumni ...

in Monrovia, and the principal of that school also expelled him. He had exposure to the

First Liberian Civil War The First Liberian Civil War lasted from 1989 to 1997. President Samuel Doe had established a regime in 1980 but totalitarianism and corruption led to unpopularity and the withdrawal of support from the United States by the late 1980s. The Nat ...

, spending time with

Bill Horace Bill Horace ( – June 21, 2020) was a Liberian fighter, a former member of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) and alleged war criminal. He fled to Canada in 2002 and was killed in his home in London, Ontario in 2020. Early life ...

whose military unit was known for

crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...

s and executions.

Career

Initially, Emmanuel pursued a career in the timber trade. He then established and commanded the Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATU) to serve as his father's personal security force. According to US prosecutors, when in Liberia, Emmanuel headed the "Demon Forces", a paramilitary, anti-terrorism security unit for Charles Taylor. Between 1999 and 2002, Emmanuel murdered at least three men and committed gruesome acts of torture in Liberia. The acts of torture he committed or was complicit in includes beating, burning, jabbing, electrocution and mutilation, especially of the genitals, shovelling stinging ants into people's bodies, forcing people to rape each other as he watched and laughed, forcing them to eat cigarette butts, and forcing them to drink urine.

Arrest and trial

In 2006, Emmanuel was placed under arrest at

Miami International Airport Miami International Airport , also known as MIA and historically as Wilcox Field, is the primary airport serving the greater Miami metropolitan area with over 1,000 daily flights to 167 domestic and international destinations, including most co ...

after flying from

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

. He carried a passport that he received after falsifying his father's name on the application. The

Domestic Security Section The Domestic Security Section (DSS) was a component of the United States Department of Justice Criminal Division that was focused on the prosecution of significant alien smuggling organizations, complex immigration frauds, certain violent crime an ...

of the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

accused Emmanuel of participating in torture in Liberia. Emmanuel's trial was the first case where a US citizen was prosecuted under a 1994 law that prohibits American citizens from participating in

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

outside of the United States. Emmanuel was incarcerated at

FDC Miami The Federal Detention Center, Miami (FDC Miami) is a prison operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It is located in downtown Miami, at the corner of Northeast Fourth Street and North Miami Avenue. The administrative facility employed 311 staff ...

. Emmanuel rejected an offer to plead guilty in exchange for leniency. Elise Keppler, a counsel for the International Justice Program of

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

, said that the "Demon Forces" "did things like beating people to death, burying them alive,

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

– the most horrible kind of war crimes." US prosecutors also charged that the "Demon Forces" engaged in torture and attempted to silence critics of Charles Taylor. At Emmanuel's trial, Rufus Kpadeh, a former prisoner in Liberia, testified that Emmanuel's forces coerced prisoners into engaging in sexual acts while Emmanuel laughed. In October 2008, a jury convicted Emmanuel of 8 counts, including for torture, conspiracy to commit torture, and

possession of a firearm Gun laws and policies, collectively referred to as firearms regulation or gun control, regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, and use of small arms by civilians. Laws of some countries may afford civilians a right to ...

while committing a

violent crime A violent crime, violent felony, crime of violence or crime of a violent nature is a crime in which an offender or perpetrator uses or threatens to use harmful force upon a victim. This entails both crimes in which the violence, violent act is t ...

. In January 2009, Judge

Cecilia Altonaga Cecilia María Altonaga (born December 26, 1962) is the Chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. She is the first Cuban-American woman to be appointed as a federal judge in the ...

sentenced Taylor to 97 years in prison. He planned to appeal his conviction. According to the

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...

, Taylor tortured victims with various means, including "burning victims with molten plastic, lit cigarettes, scalding water, candle wax and an iron; severely beating victims with firearms; cutting and stabbing victims; and shocking victims with an electric device." That same day, the World Organization for Human Rights USA filed a civil suit in the

United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida (in case citations, S.D. Fla. or S.D. Fl.) is the federal United States district court with territorial jurisdiction over the southern part of the state of Florida.. Appeals ...

on behalf of five of Taylor Jr.'s victims pursuant to the

Alien Tort Statute The Alien Tort Statute ( codified in 1948 as ; ATS), also called the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA), is a section in the United States Code that gives federal courts jurisdiction over lawsuits filed by foreign nationals for torts committed in viola ...

and the

Torture Victims Protection Act The Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 (TVPA; ) is a statute that allows for the filing of civil suits in the United States against individuals who, acting in an official capacity for any foreign nation, committed torture and/or extrajudicial ...

. The plaintiffs won by a default judgment on all counts. The civil trial to determine damages took place in late December 2009 and January 2010. , Emmanuel was serving time in a federal prison in Florida. As of 2019 he, under the name Roy M Belfast Jr. (

Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...

(BOP)#76556-004), is serving his sentence at the United States Penitentiary in Lee County, Virginia.Find By Number
"

Federal Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...

. Retrieved on October 12, 2017. Enter "76556-004" His release date is May 8, 2090.

References

External links

CASE NO. 06-20758-CR-ALTONAGA(s)
Indictment of Charles McArther Emmanuel. Retrieved on March 2, 2020
CASE NO. 06-20758-CR-ALTONAGA/Turnoff
Retrieved on March 2, 2020 {{DEFAULTSORT:Emmanuel, Charles McArther Living people 1978 births American people of Liberian descent American people convicted of torture American people convicted of war crimes Children of national leaders People from Boston Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government College of West Africa alumni