By Wendel Broere
The Hague - A Dutch businessman allied to former Liberian President Charles Taylor was given the maximum jail sentence for arms smuggling in Liberia but acquitted of war crimes by a Dutch court on Wednesday.
Guus Kouwenhoven, 63, was acquitted of war crimes in the Hague court for lack of evidence, the judge said.
The charges stemmed from Liberia's civil war that spilled across borders, killed a quarter of a million people and spawned a generation of child soldiers.
Known as "Big Gus" in Liberia, the former executive of the Oriental Timber Corp (OTC) and the Royal Timber Co was accused of selling arms in exchange for timber concessions in Liberia, dubbed the "blood timber" trade by campaigners.
Judge Roel van Rossum said Kouwenhoven knew he was infringing UN weapons embargoes in place between 2001-2003 and that he had acted solely for financial gain.
"By massively violating embargoes, he made a concrete contribution to breaches of the international peace, instability and insecurity in the Liberia region," he said.
"He played a key role through his close cooperation with Liberia's former president Taylor and through his important position at the OTC making it possible to import arms..."
Prosecutors had demanded a 20-year prison sentence and a €450 000 (about R3,92-million) fine because of the profits they said he made from illegal arms sales. They are considering appealing the sentence.
Arrested in Rotterdam in March last year, Kouwenhoven - whose lawyer said he is almost certain to appeal the sentence - said at the start of his trial in April that he was not guilty of war crimes and gun smuggling charges.
His conviction follows the sentencing of Dutch businessman Frans van Anraat in December to 15 years in jail for selling chemicals to Iraq that were used to carry out gas attacks.
According to witness statements read out by prosecutors, Kouwenhoven's companies' militias were "believed to have been involved in the slaughtering of civilians, allowing nothing and nobody - including babies - to be spared".
The judge agreed with defence lawyers arguments that testimonies provided by witnesses were insufficient to prove complicity in war crimes as they were contradictory.
Witnesses had been paid to testify, Defence lawyer Inez Weski told the court during the five week hearings.
Charles Taylor is awaiting trial for war crimes charges in the capital of the West African country of Sierra Leone.
He is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity stemming from Sierra Leone's 1991-2002 civil war, a conflict intertwined with neighbouring Liberia's own civil war that Taylor started in 1989.
The UN-backed court for Sierra Leone due to try Taylor has asked the Netherlands to hold the trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague due to security concerns.
But the process has been stalled as no third country has yet volunteered to act as Taylor's jailer if he is convicted.