Chad ex-dictator found guilty, sentence to life for abuses

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DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Chad’s former dictator Hissene Habre was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment for abuses during his time in power, Judge Gberdao Gustave Kam said Monday at the end of the trial that began in July 2015.

Cheers, whoops of joy and tears greeted the judge’s ruling from scores of Habre’s former prisoners who hugged each other in the courtroom.

Habre’s trial by the Extraordinary African Chambers in the Senegalese courts began in July last year. It is the first trial in which the courts of one country are prosecuting the former ruler of another for alleged human rights crimes. More than 90 witnesses testified.

Habre was convicted of being responsible for thousands of deaths and tortures in prisons during his rule from 1982 to 1990. A 1992 Chadian Truth Commission accused Habre’s government of systematic torture, saying that 40,000 people died during his rule. It placed particular blame on his political police force.

The ex-dictator, who has lived in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, since fleeing Chad in 1990, has denounced his trial as being politically motivated. He and his supporters have disrupted proceedings several times with shouting and singing. He refused legal representation but the court appointed him Senegalese lawyers.

The trial of Habre was forged by many of those who had been jailed by Habre’s government and who have campaigned for his prosecution for more than 15 years.

“This case was not started by a prosecutor in the Hague, or by the Security Council. The architects, the visionaries of this case, are the Chadian victims themselves and their supporters,” said Reed Brody, counsel for Human Rights Watch who has been working on the case since 2000. The work by the survivors to bring Habre to justice influenced all aspects of the trial including the way the charges were framed, he said.

Habre was first indicted by a Senegalese judge in 2000, but legal twists and turns over a decade saw the case go to Belgium and then finally back to Senegal after unwavering pursuit by the survivors.

In 2001, the police force’s archives were discovered on the floor of its headquarters in Chad, records which went back to Habre’s rule and mention more than 12,000 victims of Chad’s detention network.

The extraordinary court was formed by Senegal and the African Union to try Habre for the crimes that took place during his rule.

A second set of hearings on damages for the more than 4,000 registered civil parties will take place in the coming days. The defense has about 15 days to appeal. If they do, an appeals court must be set up.

Chad: President in power since 1990 seeks another term

A man casts his ballot during elections in N’Djamena, Chad, Sunday, April 10, 2016. Chadian President Idriss Deby faced off against more than a dozen challengers Sunday as he seeks another term after more than 25 years in power in this central African nation which is battling Islamic extremists. (Abakar Mahamad/Associated Press)
A man casts his ballot during elections in N’Djamena, Chad, Sunday, April 10, 2016. Chadian President Idriss Deby faced off against more than a dozen challengers Sunday as he seeks another term after more than 25 years in power in this central African nation which is battling Islamic extremists. (Abakar Mahamad/Associated Press)

N’DJAMENA, Chad — Chadian President Idriss Deby faced off against more than a dozen challengers Sunday as he seeks another term after more than 25 years in power in this central African nation which is battling Islamic extremists.

The election comes amid mounting international concern about Chad’s human rights record. Four activists are currently awaiting verdicts on charges of trying to disturb the peace and resisting arrest. Internet access was down in the capital of N’Djamena on election day, residents reported.

Deby, who has been in power since 1990, could face a second round of voting because of the large number of candidates. It could be one of the toughest challenges he has faced, according to Thibaud Lesueur, central African senior analyst for the International Crisis Group.

“It’s quite unprecedented to have so many people in the street,” he said, noting that many have been afraid to demonstrate against the incumbent.

Chad, a former French colony, is now home to the French military’s operations in Africa. Chadian soldiers are also on the front lines of the battle against Boko Haram, the Islamic militant group based in northeastern Nigeria.

Many Chadians see the cooperation with the international militaries, including the French, U.S., Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria, as international acceptance of Deby’s leadership, Lesueur said.

As a result of Chad’s support for the ant-extremist battle, the country has been attacked by Boko Haram through a series of suicide bombing attacks. The regional economic upheaval has severely disrupted trade, deepening poverty in this country that has remained desperately poor despite producing oil.

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