Liberian torture victims seeking damages to face ex-President Taylor's son in Fla. courtroom
CURT ANDERSON - AP Legal Affairs Writer
10:45 a.m. EST, December 10, 2009 MIAMI

(AP) Five Africans who claim they were tortured and abused in Liberia when former President Charles Taylor ruled will come to a U.S. courtroom next week seeking millions of dollars from the man they say ordered the atrocities: Taylor's son, Charles McArthur Emmanuel.

Emmanuel, also known as Charles "Chuckie" Taylor Jr., was convicted in federal court in Miami last year of violating U.S. anti-torture laws as a high-level enforcer for his father. He is serving a 97-year prison sentence. The five Liberian victims filed a lawsuit against him earlier this year, winning a default judgment in May that leaves only the question of damages for a trial that begins Monday. "No amount of money could ever undo the wrongs Taylor Jr. committed or fully restore the lives he destroyed," said Piper Hendricks, an attorney for Human Rights USA who represents the victims. " More!