African dictator’s trial opens path to justice elsewhere
DAKAR, Senegal — Souleymane Guengueng was barely able to walk or see when the prison doors swung open and he and hundreds of others were released in Chad in 1990 after dictator Hissene Habre fled. He then began collecting accounts of torture. A quarter-century later, those accounts helped convict and uphold a life sentence for Habre in a landmark trial that sets a precedent for victims elsewhere to pursue justice.
“I have been fighting for this day since I walked out of prison more than 26 years ago,” said Guengueng after the appeals verdict on Thursday. “All that remains now are the reparations to satisfy what was decided today … because without those, justice is not complete.”
An appeals court upheld Habre’s life sentence and confirmed that reparations of more than 82 billion CFA ($135 million) will be managed by a trust fund set up by the African Union.
Habre’s is the first conviction of a former head of state by an African court for crimes against humanity. His trial was also the first in which courts of one country prosecuted the former ruler of another for alleged human rights crimes. The Extraordinary African Chambers was created by the African Union and Senegal to try Habre for crimes committed during his presidency from 1982-1990.