Liberia: Dutch 'Blood Timber' Businessman Gets 19 Years for Liberian Crimes

Apr 21, 2017 | Channel NewsAsia
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Dutch timber trader Guus Kouwenhoven was convicted on Friday as an accessory to war crimes for selling weapons to Liberia's then-President Charles Taylor between 2000 and 2003 in violation of a U.N. embargo. The 74-year-old Kouwenhoven, who denied wrongdoing, was sentenced to 19 years in prison. The businessman, known in Liberia as "Mister Gus," ran two timber companies in Liberia between 2000 and 2003 and used them to smuggle weapons into the country, judges at the Den Bosch appeals court found.