Hissene Habre’s trial adjourned, he rejects orders
Former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre (centre) is escorted by prison guards into the courtroom for the first proceedings of his trial by the Extraordinary African Chambers in Dakar on July 20, 2015. AFP PHOTO
What you need to know:
- Ex-president refuses to comply with plea by judges to stand up and identify himself.
DAKAR
The trial of former Chadian dictator Hissene Habré’s was on Tuesday adjourned shortly after he was forced into the AU-backed court in Dakar.
The case will now resumes on September 7.
Dressed in a white gown and a white turban, Mr Habre was dragged into the courthouse by security men as ordered on Monday by the judges after he was forced into the court.
As he struggled with the security men, who forced him into the docket in front of the judges, he shouted at them: “you are rotten politicians and stooges of the West!”
Mr Habre refused to comply with the judges’ request that he stands up and also refused to answer the order to identity himself.
“Your silence therefore means acquiescence and guilt?” the prosecutor of the court, Mr Mbacké Fall, asked the accused but he remained silent.
None of Mr Habré’s lawyers accompanied him to the court as he struggled to prevent reporters from interviewing him and taking his photographs.
The court appointed three lawyers to assist him and then adjourned the trial until September 7 to give them time to prepare their defence.
Mr Habre then rose and gave a clenched-fist salute and V-for-victory sign to his supporters, who shouted “Allah akbar” (God is greatest).
The jam-packed session was then adjourned amid thunderous applause by the witnesses and victims of the former dictator.
Several diplomats and representatives of the African Union and a cross section of the international community attended the session.
Mr Habre is being pursued for crimes against humanity, war crimes and for killing about 40,000 of his opponents during his rule between 1982 and 1990.
Habre — backed during his presidency by France and the United States as a bulwark against Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi — is on trial over actions under his regime from 1982 until he was ousted in 1990.
Rights groups say 40,000 Chadians were killed under Habre’s regime.
The former president, 72, has been in custody in Dakar since his arrest in June 2013 at the home he shared in an affluent suburb of the Senegalese capital with his wife and children.
