Former Liberian President Charles Taylor is guilty of "aiding and abetting" forces in Sierra Leone that committed war crimes and other atrocities during a war that lasted more than a decade and left more than 50,000 people dead, the International Criminal Court ruled today.

Taylor, the first head of state since just after World War II to be judged by an international tribunal, "knew that his support" would assist and encourage fighters who were committing war crimes, the tribunal ruled.

The court proceeding in The Hague began at 5 a.m. ET, and it wasn't until after 7 a.m. ET that the judge finished reading through the judge's findings and their verdicts.