After a 19-month investigation, a four-judge panel of the
Extraordinary African Chambers
within the Senegalese courts found that there was sufficient evidence
for Habre to face charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and
torture. A trial is expected to get under way in Senegal in May or
June.
“After so many years, Habré’s victims are now on the verge of seeing justice done for what they have endured,” said
Jacqueline Moudeina,
lead lawyer for the victims and president of the Chadian Association
for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (ATPDH). “Getting Hissène
Habré before a court is an enormous victory for justice.”
Habré’s trial will be the first in which a country tries the former ruler of another country for alleged human rights crimes.
Habré is accused of thousands of political killings and systematic
torture during his presidency, from 1982 to 1990, when he was deposed by
President Idriss Deby Itno and fled to Senegal. After a 22-year
campaign by Habre’s victims, the
Extraordinary African Chambers
were established in February 2013 to prosecute the worst crimes during
his rule. The chambers indicted Habré in July 2013 and placed him in
pretrial detention.
“This case shows that it is possible for victims, with tenacity and perseverance, to bring a dictator to justice,” said
Reed Brody,
counsel for Human Rights Watch who has worked with Habré’s victims
since 1999. “A fair and transparent trial for Hissène Habré would now
demonstrate that courts in Africa can be empowered to provide justice
for African victims of crimes committed in Africa.”
The decision by the four investigating judges brings to a close the
pretrial investigation. During that phase, the judges carried out four
missions to Chad; interviewed about 2,500 witnesses and victims;
analyzed thousands of documents from Habré’s
political police;
seized papers and effects from Habre’s two Dakar homes; assigned
experts to dissect Habré’s command structure; and uncovered mass graves.
On February 6, the chambers’ chief prosecutor, Mbacké Fall, requested
that the judges commit Habré to trial on charges of crimes against
humanity, war crimes, and torture, as the judges have done.
The trial will be conducted before a panel of two Senegalese judges and a
non-Senegalese judge from another African Union (AU) member state, who
will also serve as president of the chamber. The
chambers’ statute provides for the participation of victims as civil parties, represented by counsel, and for the award of reparations.
In 2013, Prosecutor Fall sought an indictment of five other officials
from Habré’s administration suspected of being responsible for
international crimes. They have not been brought before the court,
however. Three of the suspects are at large, while the other two, Saleh
Younouss and Mahamat Djibrine, are currently standing trial in a Chadian
court on similar charges, and Chad has refused to transfer them to
Dakar.
Habré does not recognize the chambers’ legitimacy and, through his
lawyers, has refused to participate in the proceedings. The court should
continue scrupulously to respect Habré’s rights, Human Rights Watch
said.
Habré’s trial will be the first use of “universal jurisdiction” on the
African continent. “Universal jurisdiction” is a concept under
international law that allows national courts to prosecute the most
serious crimes even when committed abroad, by a foreigner and against
foreign victims.
Habré’s victims greeted the news of his committal with satisfaction.
“I have been waiting more than two decades to see Hissène Habré in
court,” said Clément Abaifouta, president of the Association of Victims
of the Crimes of Hissène Habré’s Regime (AVCRHH), who as a political
prisoner during Habré’s rule was forced to dig mass graves and bury
hundreds of other detainees. “We are finally going to be able to
confront our main tormentor and regain our dignity as human beings.”
Background
Habré’s one-party rule was marked by widespread atrocities, including waves of ethnic cleansing. Files of Habré’s
political police, the Direction de la Documentation et de la Sécurité (DDS), which were
recovered by Human Rights Watch in 2001,
reveal the names of 1,208 people who were killed or died in detention, and 12,321 victims of human rights violations.
The United States and France supported Habré throughout his rule, seeing
him as a bulwark against Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi. Under President
Ronald Reagan, the US gave covert CIA paramilitary support to help Habré
take power.
Habré was first
indicted in
Senegal in 2000, but the country’s courts said that he could not be
tried there, so his victims filed a case in Belgium. In September 2005,
after four years of investigation, a Belgian judge indicted Habré and
Belgium requested his extradition. Senegal refused to send Habré to
Belgium, and spent the next three years stalling on a request from the
AU. Belgium then filed a case against Senegal at the International Court
of Justice (ICJ). On July 20, 2012, the court ordered Senegal to
prosecute Habré “without further delay” or to extradite him.
After Macky Sall’s election as president of Senegal in April 2012, Senegal and the AU agreed on a
plan to create
Extraordinary African Chambers
to conduct the trial within the Senegalese judicial system. The
chambers can prosecute “the person or persons most responsible” for
international crimes committed in Chad between June 7, 1982, and
December 1, 1990.
source; http://www.hrw.org
