8 February 2011 Last updated at 04:36 ET

The charges against Charles Taylor

Liberia's former President Charles Ghankay Taylor is on trial on 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone in the Hague.

He is accused of funding Sierra Leone's former rebels, the Revolutionary United Front, by selling diamonds on their behalf and buying weapons for them.

RUF fighters were notorious for hacking off the arms and legs of the civilian population with machetes, as well as killing, raping and robbing them.

Here are the charges:

CAH = Crimes Against Humanity

WC = Violation of Article 3 Common to the Geneva Conventions and of Additional Protocol II (war crimes)

VIHL = Other serious violation of international humanitarian law

Terrorising the civilian population and collective punishments

1 Acts of terrorism (WC)

Unlawful killings

2 Murder (CAH)

3 Violence to life, health and physical or mental well-being of persons, in particular murder (WC)

Sexual violence

4 Rape (CAH)

5 Sexual slavery and any other form of sexual violence (CAH)

6 Outrages upon personal dignity (WC)

Physical violence

7 Violence to life, health and physical or mental well-being of persons, in particular cruel treatment (WC)

8 Other inhumane acts (CAH)

Use of child soldiers

9 Conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 years into armed forces or groups, or using them to participate actively in hostilities (VIHL)

Abductions and forced labour

10 Enslavement (CAH)

Looting

11 Pillage (WC)