The ICTY ruling “is not binding on the Special Court for Sierra Leone, but may be considered,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
Should Taylor’s appeal succeed, he will walk out of the court a free man, having been held at the UN Detention Unit in The Hague since June 2006.
If it fails, he is likely to spend the rest of his life behind bars, possibly in a British jail.
A number of headline-grabbing witnesses took the stand during Taylor’s trial including actress Mia Farrow and former supermodel Naomi Campbell, who told of a gift of “dirty diamonds” she received in 1997 after a charity ball hosted by then South African president Nelson Mandela.
Thursday’s hearing almost certainly draws the curtain on Sierra Leone’s special court, set up in 2002 by agreement between Freetown and the United Nations.
One suspect remains wanted but is widely believed to have died.
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