Senegal: Hissène Habré Trial
For Immediate Release
(Dakar July 7, 2015) – The former Chadian dictator Hissène Habré goes on trial on July 20, 2015, almost 25 years after being toppled in a coup, charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture before a specially commissioned court in Senegal. In advance of the trial, Human Rights Watch has released a new video, “Facing Justice: Victims Bring Dictator Hissène Habré to Trial.”
Habré will stand trial before the Extraordinary African Chambers in the Senegal court system. The chambers were inaugurated by Senegal and the African Union in February 2013 to prosecute the “person or persons” most responsible for international crimes committed in Chad between 1982 and 1990, the period when Habre ruled Chad. The president of the Trial Chamber is Gberdao Gustave Kam of Burkina Faso, who will sit with two senior Senegalese judges.
Habre is accused of tens of thousands of political killings as well as systematic torture during his rule, from 1982 to 1990. The trial will be the first in the world in which the courts of one country prosecute the former ruler of another for alleged human rights crimes.
(Dakar July 7, 2015) – The former Chadian dictator Hissène Habré goes on trial on July 20, 2015, almost 25 years after being toppled in a coup, charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture before a specially commissioned court in Senegal. In advance of the trial, Human Rights Watch has released a new video, “Facing Justice: Victims Bring Dictator Hissène Habré to Trial.”
Habré will stand trial before the Extraordinary African Chambers in the Senegal court system. The chambers were inaugurated by Senegal and the African Union in February 2013 to prosecute the “person or persons” most responsible for international crimes committed in Chad between 1982 and 1990, the period when Habre ruled Chad. The president of the Trial Chamber is Gberdao Gustave Kam of Burkina Faso, who will sit with two senior Senegalese judges.
Habre is accused of tens of thousands of political killings as well as systematic torture during his rule, from 1982 to 1990. The trial will be the first in the world in which the courts of one country prosecute the former ruler of another for alleged human rights crimes.
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