JOHANNESBURG – Former Chad dictator Hissene Habre, who seized power in 1982, embarking on an eight-year campaign of brutal atrocities, has been sentenced to life behind bars after judges in Dakar, Senegal, on Thursday upheld an earlier conviction by the Extraordinary African Chambers. In July, the court further ruled that Habre should give up to 30,000 euros to each victim of abuses committed during his 1982-1990 rule, as well as to their relatives, a decision on which the court will also rule on Thursday. The Extraordinary African Chambers had also ordered him last July to pay compensation to each victim who suffered rape, arbitrary detention and imprisonment during his rule, as well as to their relatives, a decision also upheld on Thursday. The trial set a global precedent as the first time a country had prosecuted the former leader of another nation for rights abuses, and was seen as a landmark example of African rights abuses being tried on the continent. “No proof of his guilt has been demonstrated,” said Mbaye Sene, one of his court lawyers, though Reed Brody, a US-based expert who has worked closely with Habre’s victims to secure the conviction, has described his crimes as among the best-documented in African history. The earlier conviction by the Chambers, a legal body created by Senegal and the African Union, in May 2016 set a global precedent as for the first time a country had prosecuted a former leader of another nation for rights abuses, AFP reported.
The Extraordinary African Chambers tribunal in Dakar, Senegal, upholds its conviction of former Chadian president Hissène Habré for crimes against humanity, but acquits him of rape.