World leaders and war crimes

Throughout history, leaders from around the globe have been accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and human rights abuses. Here is what happened to them.

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Charles Taylor

Charles Taylor, the U.S.-educated guerrilla leader who fought his way to the presidency of Liberia, was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity — including murder, rape and slavery — for his role in assisting a bloody rebel movement in neighboring Sierra Leone. The court sentenced him to 50 years imprisonment.

Pewee Flomoku / AP

Omar al-Bashir

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has been accused of orchestrating genocide and war crimes in Darfur. Although the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for him, he is still in Sudan and has shown no signs of turning himself in.

Abd Raouf / AP

Moammar Gaddafi

Moammar Gaddafi, who ruled Libya with an iron fist for more than 40 years, was killed after a NATO-led rebel movement toppled him from power.

Enric Marti / AP

Laurent Gbagbo

The former Ivory Coast president is currently in prison in The Hague awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Christophe Ena / AP

Gen. Augusto Pinochet

Former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet died in a military hospital in 2006. Pinochet, who overthrew Chile's democratically elected Marxist president in a bloody coup and ruled the Andean nation for 17 years, was charged with human rights abuses.

Santiago Llanquin / AP

Saddam Hussein

After a U.S.-led invasion toppled his regime in 2003, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was hanged in 2006 following a trial by an Iraqi court. He was charged with crimes against humanity and genocide, most significantly for his violent campaign against the Kurds and Shiites in the country.

Nikola Solic / AP

Radovan Karadzic

Radovan Karadzic has been charged with war crimes and genocide following the war in Bosnia. He currently awaits a hearing from the United Nations war crimes tribunal.

Michael Kooren / AP

Idi Amin

Ugandan President Idi Amin died in 2003 while living in an exile in Saudi Arabia. After taking power in 1971, Amin killed thousands of people he perceived as his opponents and also expelled the entire Asian population from Uganda.

/ AP

Slobodan Milosevic

Former Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic was found dead in his cell in The Hague in 2006. He was charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo, which killed more than 250,000 people.

Paul Vreeker / AP

Pol Pot

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in Cambodia in 1998 while prosecutors were still making efforts to capture him. During his three-year reign, he imposed draconian socialist policies pushing people into forced labor. An estimated 2 million Cambodians died as a result of malnutrition, execution and illness.

Kyodo News / AP

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin in 1945. He was held responsible for the Holocaust and killing millions of people during the second World War.

/ AP

FEATURED PHOTO GALLERIES

epa03708924 Franziska (C) wears a helmet and carries a shield during the recreation of The Battle of the Teutoburg Museum in Bramsche, Germany, 20 May 2013. The everyday life of Romans and the Germanic people is depicted at Museum Park Kalkriese during the Romans and Germanic people days. EPA/Friso Gentsch

Photos of the day

Battle of Teutoburg Forest reenactment, Mars Curiosity rover drilling, massive tornado strikes Moore, Oklahoma and more.

A Burrowing owl tries to perch on a protective rope in a public park in Cooper City, Fla. Monday, May 20, 2013 as rain falls. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Animal views

Fun and fascinating creatures around the world.

ANNAPOLIS, MD - MAY 20: The Herndon Monument Climb is the traditional culmination of plebe year at the United States Naval Academy. The plebes climb to the top of the lard-covered 21 foot high monument and remove the 'dixie cup' hat at the top replacing it with an upperclassman's hat. After completing this, the freshmen are called 'fourth class midshipmen.' This class completed the task in 1 hour 32 minutes and 43 seconds. The hat was placed by Patrick Lien from Orlando. (Photo by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

The Herndon Climb

The Herndon Monument climb is the traditional culmination of plebe year at the U.S. Naval Academy.

This combination of Associated Press photos shows left, a neighborhood in Moore, Okla., in ruins on Tuesday, May 4, 1999, after a tornado flattened many houses and buildings in central Oklahoma, and right, flattened houses in Moore on Monday, May 20, 2013. Monday's powerful tornado in suburban Oklahoma City loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the region in May 1999. (AP Photo)

Okla. tornado loosely followed path of 1999 twister

Monday’s powerful tornado in suburban Oklahoma City loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the area in May 1999.

Lea Bessinger salvages a picture of Jesus as she and her son Josh Bessinger sort through the rubble of the elder Bessinger's tornado-ravaged home Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening an entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Tornado near Oklahoma City causes more damage

Rescue workers are searching for survivors after a twister carved a long path of destruction in a suburb of Oklahoma City. It was part of the...

FILE - In this undated publicity file photo, members of the Doors, from left, John Densmore, Robbie Krieger, Ray Manzarek and Jim Morrison, pose for a portrait. Manzarek, the keyboardist who was a founding member of The Doors, has died at 74. Publicist Heidi Robinson-Fitzgerald says in a news release that Manzarek died Monday, May 20, 2013, at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany, surrounded by his family. (AP Photo, File)

Ray Manzarek, founding member of the Doors, dies at 74

Manzarek co-founded the Doors after meeting then-poet Jim Morrison in California. The band went on to become one of the most successful rock-and-roll...

US actress Rosario Dawson smiles on May 20, 2013 as she arrives for the screening of the film 'Wara No Tate' (Shield of Straw) presented in Competition at the 66th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes. Cannes, one of the world's top film festivals, opened on May 15 and will climax on May 26 with awards selected by a jury headed this year by Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg. AFP PHOTO / ALBERTO PIZZOLIALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images

Eye on entertainment

Rosario Dawson, Alec Baldwin, Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, Bow Wow, Amy Poehler and more.

A man walks on sulphur and mineral salt formations near Dallol in the Danakil Depression, northern Ethiopia April 22, 2013. The Danakil Depression in Ethiopia is one of the hottest and harshest environments on earth, with an average annual temperature of 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34.4 Celsius). For centuries, merchants have travelled there with caravans of camels to collect salt from the surface of the vast desert basin. The mineral is extracted and shaped into slabs, then loaded onto the animals before being transported back across the desert so that it can be sold around the country. Picture taken April 22, 2013. REUTERS/Siegfried Modola (ETHIOPIA - Tags: BUSINESS SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 2 OF 30 FOR PACKAGE 'ETHIOPIA'S ANCIENT SALT TRAIL'
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Ethiopia’s salt trail

For centuries, merchants have traveled to Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression with caravans of camels to collect salt from the surface of the vast desert basin. The mineral is extracted...

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