Delayed Justice: Trial Against Ex-Chad Dictator a Legal Milestone

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http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/chad-dictator-hissene-habre-continues-in-dakar-a-1055069.html



It was over 25 years ago that former Chad dictator Hissène Habré terrorized his population with the blessing of the Reagan White House. Now, he is on trial in Dakar. The proceedings could become a milestone of international criminal law.

Delayed Justice: Trial Against Ex-Chad Dictator a Legal Milestone
By Bartholomäus Grill
October 02, 2015 – 11:35 AM

Four prison guards drag the defendant into the courtroom. He is wearing a pristine white caftan, while a turban covers his face. He is doing all he can to resist: kicking and screaming. Ultimately, though, Hissène Habré, Chad's infamous ex-dictator, is overpowered. With his relatives in the public gallery hurling insults at court officials, the uniformed guards manage to shove the prisoner into the defendant's chair.

It's Monday, September 7, in courtroom four at the Dakar's palace of justice. The trial against 73-year-old Hissen Habré, which started in July before immediately being postponed, has just resumed. The former president of Chad, who was in power from 1982 to 1990, was one of the most gruesome tyrants in post-colonial Africa's gruesome history. He is accused of crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture. According to estimates by a Chadian truth commission, he is responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people.

"The great dictator looks like a kicking baby," says Souleymane Guengueng, a bald man in the third row. "Now he has to pay for his atrocities." Guengueng says this with a great deal of satisfaction. He survived Habré's rule of terror, and has been waiting for this trial for 25 years. Now he hopes that he and thousands of victims will finally get justice.

The indictment is read out, a 187-page litany of horrors during which Hissène Habré repeatedly calls out: "Silence! Shut up! This trial is illegal!" He wants to jump up and he kicks his legs, but the guards press him onto the chair. After an hour, the old man loses his energy. By the end of the trial's first day, he is just sitting there apathetically and staring into the distance.