This book chapter, which appears in The Cambridge Companion to International Criminal Law edited by Prof. William A. Schabas, examines the landmark trial of ex-Liberian president Charles Taylor, the first former African head of state to be tried – and convicted – by an international criminal court for his involvement in the commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity and other serious violations of international humanitarian law in a neighboring African State. It exposes the various controversies that dogged the Taylor Trial from the first through to its last day, and assesses its historic and symbolic significance for the United Nations backed Special Court for Sierra Leone and for international criminal law.