Senegal court upholds life sentence for former Chad leader News
Senegal court upholds life sentence for former Chad leader

[JURIST] The Extraordinary African Chambers (EAC) [official website, in French] in Senegal upheld [ruling, in French] the life sentence of Chad’s former dictator Hissene Habre [HRW backgrounder] for crimes against humanity, war crimes, and torture. Habre was sentenced to life in prison for rape, various war crimes, and torture last year [Reuters report], however, his counsel appealed, believing that his sentence was too severe. On appeal, the EAC overturned his conviction for rape, however, it upheld his life sentence finding that the punishment was not disproportionate to the crimes committed by Habre. Judge Ougadeye Wafi also established a $135 million fund to compensate the victims of Habre. The funds will be supplied from the seizure of Habre’s assets. Habre’s conviction marks the first time in modern history that the court of one African country prosecuted and convicted the former leader of another African nation on rights charges.

Habré, who fled to Senegal after being deposed in 1990, was indicted [JURIST report] by the Extraordinary African Chambers in July 2013 and placed in pretrial detention. In September 2015 the former leader was carried into court [JURIST report] by masked security agents following his refusal to participate in his own trial. In July 2015 the Extraordinary African Chambers in Senegal suspended [JURIST report] his trial on charges of crimes against humanity, torture and war crimes, reportedly due to the need for court appointed lawyers to prepare the former leader’s defense. In March 2015 a criminal court in Chad sentenced [JURIST report] Habré-era police officers to prison tor torture. In 2013 more than 1,000 victims filed for civil party status, asking the Extraordinary African Chambers to officially recognize them as parties with an interest in the matter. The African Union began talks with Senegal to come up with a plan for Habré’s trial after the International Court of Justice ruled [JURIST report] in July 2012 that Senegal must either try Habré promptly or extradite him to Belgium for trial.

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