SENEGAL-HABRE/PREVIEW Trial of ex-Chad leader Habre raises hopes for African justice

Record ID: 146770

  • Title: SENEGAL-HABRE/PREVIEW Trial of ex-Chad leader Habre raises hopes for African justice
  • Date: 17th July 2015
  • Summary: DAKAR, SENEGAL (JULY 13, 2015) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (French) PRISON SURVIVOR, SOULEYMANE GUENGUENG, SAYING: "No, you cannot govern your people with terror and criminality."
  • Embargoed: 1st August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Chad
  • Country: Chad
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA13K46O5V09SQL5CJH9685O3EQ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The trial of Chad's former dictator in Senegal on charges of crimes against humanity offers the continent a chance to show it can hold its leaders to account.
    The start of the trial of Hissene Habre on Monday (July 20) concludes a 15-year battle by victims and rights campaigners to bring the former strongman to justice in Senegal, where he fled after being toppled in a 1990 coup.
    Rights groups hold Habre responsible for the torture or killing of up to 40,000 people during the eight years in power.
    The trial marks the first time a court in one country prosecutes the former ruler of another on human rights charges, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).
    Reed Brody of HRW discovered files of Habre's intelligence police, the Documentation and Security Directorate (DDS), in 2001.
    In these files alone, HRW says Habre received 1,265 direct communications from the DDS about the status of 898 detainees. These match with the testimony of witnesses, HRW says.
    "This is a chance to show that an African court can deliver justice for African victims for crimes committed in Africa. It's one thing to complain about having abusive African presidents sent to the Hague. It's another thing to show that they can be prosecuted and get a fair trial here in Africa," Brody said.
    The International Criminal Court was embraced by many African governments when it was set up in 2002, but attitudes towards the largely European-funded court have cooled after it has indicted only Africans, prompting many to label it a Western-controlled, neo-colonial institution.
    Habre's case was not eligible for trial before the ICC, which only has jurisdiction over crimes committed after July 1, 2002, when its statute entered into effect.
    A special tribunal created in 2013 will hear the trial, which is expected to last around three months. The court is endorsed by the African Union and backed financially by Chad and Western donors.
    A 1992 Chadian Truth Commission accused Habre's government of 40,000 political murders and systematic torture.
    Souleymane Guengueng survived two and a half years in Habre's prisons. He then spent three years secretly compiling a file of testimony from hundreds of victims after Habre's fall. Guengueng is among 100 victims expected to testify at the trial.
    "When I saw my colleagues dying and the enormous suffering they inflicted on us, the hunger, even refusing to take us to the hospital when we were sick, I made a vow to God to keep me alive, that if I survived, I would not let these things pass in silence," Guengueng said.
    The crux of the case is whether Habre, who was supported by the United States and France as a bulwark against Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, ordered the large-scale assassination and torture of political opponents and rival ethnic groups.
    Habre's lawyers say he is innocent of all charges. They say Habre has a heart condition and will not appear at the trial. His lawyers say they will also not attend, saying there has been no presumption of innocence.
    "In this affair, from the outset, it has been - 'Hissene Habre is guilty and let's go out and find evidence that justifies this guilt'," said Ibrahima Diawara, an attorney for Habre.
    Senegalese rights activist and attorney for the victims, Assane Dioma Ndiaye, says the trial must be fair if it is to serve as a model for African justice.
    "This is a gamble we must absolutely win. We have the tendency to criticise the International Criminal Court, to say that the court is judging the sons of Africa. Now that we have the opportunity to judge our own sons, we have to be up to the task," Ndiaye said.
    For victims like Souleymane Guengueng, this trial should be a lesson to African leaders.
    "No, you cannot govern with terror and criminality," Guengueng said.
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