ICC convicts Central African Republic rebels over war crimes
The former president of the CAR Football Federation, Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona, along with Alfred Yekatom, a rebel leader known as 'Rambo,' were found guilty on Thursday of their involvement in atrocities including murder, torture and attacking civilians.
The court sentenced Yekatom to 15 years for 20 war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Ngaissona received 12 years for 28 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The charges stem from their roles as senior leaders in a militia known as the anti-Balaka, which was formed in 2013 after mainly Muslim Seleka rebels stormed the capital Bangui in March of that year and toppled then-President Francois Bozize, a Christian.
The violence that ensued left thousands of civilians dead and displaced hundreds of thousands of others. Mosques, shops and homes were looted and destroyed.
The ICC's presiding Judge Bertram Schmitt read harrowing details in The Hague of the violence committed by the militia against suspected Seleka Muslims.
Yekatom's men tortured one suspect by cutting off his fingers, toes, and one ear. This man's body was never found. Others were killed and then mutilated.
Appearing in court dressed in a light brown suit and waistcoat, white shirt, and dark tie, Yekatom listened impassively as the judge read out the verdict.
Dressed in a bright blue jacket, Ngaissona nodded to the judge as his sentence was delivered.
The court found Yekatom not guilty of conscripting child soldiers and acquitted Ngaissona of the charge of rape.
Both men had pleaded not guilty to all charges laid out in the trial, which opened in 2021. It is the first case at the ICC, which began in May 2014, to focus on the violence that erupted after the Seleka seized power in the CAR in 2013.
Yekatom was extradited to The Hague in late 2018, after being arrested in the CAR for firing his gun in parliament. Ngaissona was arrested in France in December 2018 and extradited to The Hague.
The trial of an alleged Seleka commander, Mahamat Said Abdel Kani, is ongoing.
Last year, judges at the ICC unsealed another arrest warrant in the investigation. According to prosecutors, Edmond Beina commanded a group of about 100-400 anti-balaka fighters responsible for murdering Muslims in early 2014.
Separate proceedings against Beina and five others at a specially-created court are slated to begin in the CAR on Friday.
The CAR is among the poorest nations in the world and has endured a succession of civil wars and authoritarian governments since gaining independence from France in 1960.
Violence has subsided in recent years, but fighting occasionally erupts in remote regions between rebels and the national army, which is backed by Russian mercenaries and Rwandan troops.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
20 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,247
Here is how things stand on Friday, July 25 : Fighting Ukraine and Russia have attacked targets on each other's territory after brief direct talks between the two sides in Istanbul failed to make any progress on steps to end nearly three-and-a-half years of war. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba said Russia launched 103 drones and four missiles during its overnight attack, hitting civilian infrastructure, including seaports, transport hubs, and residential areas. One person was killed and four others injured after Russian forces staged the latest in a series of mass drone attacks on Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa. The attack also caused several fires as well as damage to the historic centre, a UNESCO World Heritage site. At least two people were killed and at least 33 others wounded after Russian glide bombs struck a residential neighbourhood in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city in the northeast of the country, officials said. One person was killed in a drone attack in Ukraine's Sumy region on the northern border with Russia, where Moscow's forces have established a foothold in recent months. Russia also attacked the central Ukrainian region of Cherkasy overnight, injuring seven people, including a nine-year-old child, and damaging more than a dozen residential apartment buildings. Emergency officials in Russia's Krasnodar region on the Black Sea said debris from a falling drone struck and killed a woman in the Adler district near the resort city of Sochi. A second woman was being treated in hospital for serious injuries. The administrative head of the Sirius federal district, south of Sochi, said a drone hit an oil terminal, giving no further details. Russia's aviation authority also said operations were suspended at Sochi airport for about four hours. Russian forces have taken control of the villages of Zvirove and Novoekonomichne in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, the Russian Ministry of Defence said. The claim could not be independently verified. Russian forces are making every effort to establish buffer zones along the border with Ukraine, state news agency RIA Novosti quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying. Military aid The United States Department of State has approved potential military sales, including air defence, to Ukraine worth $330m, the Pentagon said. An Indian company – Ideal Detonators Private Limited – shipped $1.4m worth of an explosive compound with military uses to Russia in December, according to Indian customs data seen by the Reuters news agency, despite US threats to impose sanctions on any entity supporting Russia's Ukraine war effort. Politics and diplomacy President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has blamed Russia for rejecting a proposal presented during the Istanbul talks for an immediate and complete ceasefire. He said that instead of accepting a truce deal, Russian drones struck residential buildings in Ukraine. Zelenskyy has submitted draft legislation to restore the independence of Ukraine's anticorruption agency NABU and anticorruption prosecution unit SAPO, reversing course after an outburst of public criticism over his attempt to remove their status as independent organisations. The Kremlin said it was hard to see how Russian President Vladimir Putin could meet Zelenskyy before the end of August, RIA reported. Earlier, a Ukrainian official suggested that Kyiv had proposed a Putin-Zelenskyy meeting in August, within the 50-day deadline set by the US for both sides to reach a ceasefire deal. The European Union has expressed its expectations that China will respond to the EU's concerns and use its influence to urge Russia towards accepting a ceasefire in Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said following her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. Russia Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has accused German Chancellor Friedrich Merz of pursuing a path of 'militarisation' and said this was a cause for concern. She said Berlin is pursuing an openly hostile policy, and that Merz was stepping up anti-Russian rhetoric 'literally every day'. Economy Ukraine's Central Bank Governor Andriy Pyshnyy said his government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – Kyiv's key international lender – were working on a new lending programme. Ukraine currently has a $15.5bn four-year lending programme with the IMF that is set to expire in 2027. Kyiv has received about $10.6bn under the programme so far.
Al Jazeera
a day ago
- Al Jazeera
Ukraine's Zelenskyy introduces bill after anticorruption protests
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has submitted a new draft bill to the country's legislature, in an effort to calm outrage over a previously passed law that critics say paves the way for corruption. The country's anticorruption agencies quickly hailed the bill's introduction on Thursday, saying it would restore their 'procedural powers and guarantees of independence'. The Ukrainian leader has contended with protests and condemnation from both within Ukraine and from its closest European allies after a separate controversial law was passed on Tuesday. That law placed the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) under the direct authority of the country's prosecutor general – a position appointed by the president. Zelenskyy initially maintained that the law was needed to respond to suspected 'Russian influence' within the agencies amid Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Critics, however, said the law would strip the bodies of their independence and could allow political interference, while failing to address any potential Kremlin-linked operatives. On Tuesday, thousands of Ukrainians defied martial law – which has been in place since the beginning of Russia's war – to take to the streets of Kyiv and other major cities to protest against the law. European officials also questioned the law, noting that addressing corruption remains a core requirement both for Ukraine's future European Union membership and in assuring aid flows to combat Russia. Amid the pressure, Zelenskyy backed away from the new law, promising to submit new legislation that would assure 'all the norms for the independence of anti-corruption institutions will be in place' and that there would be no Russian 'influence or interference'. Opposition lawmakers have also separately prepared their own legislation to revoke the law passed on Tuesday. 'They heroically solved the problems that they created just as heroically. Grand imitators,' Yaroslav Zhelezniak, from the opposition Holos party, said on Telegram, criticising Zelenskyy and his allies about-turn. Before the new draft bill's introduction, Zelenskyy spoke with the leaders of Germany and the United Kingdom on Thursday. In a statement, Zelenskyy's office said British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had 'offered to involve experts who could contribute to long-term cooperation' on the issue. In a post on X, Zelenskyy said he invited Friedrich Merz to 'join the expert review of the bill'. 'Friedrich assured me of readiness to assist,' he said. It was not immediately clear when Ukraine's legislature, the Verkhovna Rada, would vote on the new bill.
Al Jazeera
a day ago
- Al Jazeera
Ukraine's Zelenskyy introduces new draft law after anticorruption protests
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has submitted a new draft bill to the country's legislature, in an effort to calm outrage over a previously passed law that critics say paves the way for corruption. The country's anticorruption agencies quickly hailed the bill's introduction on Thursday, saying it would restore their 'procedural powers and guarantees of independence'. The Ukrainian leader has contended with protests and condemnation from both within Ukraine and from its closest European allies after a separate controversial law was passed on Tuesday. That law placed the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) under the direct authority of the country's prosecutor general – a position appointed by the president. Zelenskyy initially maintained that the law was needed to respond to suspected 'Russian influence' within the agencies amid Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Critics, however, said the law would strip the bodies of their independence and could allow political interference, while failing to address any potential Kremlin-linked operatives. On Tuesday, thousands of Ukrainians defied martial law – which has been in place since the beginning of Russia's war – to take to the streets of Kyiv and other major cities to protest against the law. European officials also questioned the law, noting that addressing corruption remains a core requirement both for Ukraine's future European Union membership and in assuring aid flows to combat Russia. Amid the pressure, Zelenskyy backed away from the new law, promising to submit new legislation that would assure 'all the norms for the independence of anti-corruption institutions will be in place' and that there would be no Russian 'influence or interference'. Opposition lawmakers have also separately prepared their own legislation to revoke the law passed on Tuesday. 'They heroically solved the problems that they created just as heroically. Grand imitators,' Yaroslav Zhelezniak, from the opposition Holos party, said on Telegram, criticising Zelenskyy and his allies about-turn. Before the new draft bill's introduction, Zelenskyy spoke with the leaders of Germany and the United Kingdom on Thursday. In a statement, Zelenskyy's office said British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had 'offered to involve experts who could contribute to long-term cooperation' on the issue. In a post on X, Zelenskyy said he invited Friedrich Merz to 'join the expert review of the bill'. 'Friedrich assured me of readiness to assist,' he said. It was not immediately clear when Ukraine's legislature, the Verkhovna Rada, would vote on the new bill.
