Trial begins for former Central African Republic leader Bozizé over war crimes
A UN-backed special court in the Central African Republic on Tuesday started the trial in absentia of former president François Bozizé for crimes against humanity committed between 2009 and 2013, including murder, torture, and rape.
The Special Criminal Court (SCC), a hybrid tribunal in Bangui with both Central African and foreign judges, is hearing the case against the 79-year-old former leader. The charges relate to alleged crimes by Bozizé's security forces, particularly his Presidential Guard, at a civilian prison and a military training centre in the town of Bossembele. Bozizé, who took power in a 2003 coup and was overthrown in 2013, has been in exile in Guinea-Bissau since March 2023. He was already sentenced in absentia in September 2022 to life imprisonment for conspiracy, rebellion, and murder.
Three of his former senior military officers—Eugene Barret Ngaikosset, Vianney Semndiro, and Firmin Junior Danboy—are in pre-trial detention in CAR.
The SCC investigates war crimes committed since 2003 in CAR, a country that has experienced civil wars and authoritarian regimes since independence from France in 1960. Bozizé's overthrow in 2013 by the mostly Muslim Seleka rebel coalition sparked a civil war. He then formed the anti-Balaka militias, dominated by Christians and animists, to regain power. Thousands of civilians died, and both sides have been accused by the UN of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In late 2020, Bozizé led a new rebel alliance, the Coalition of Patriots for Change, which threatened President Faustin-Archange Touadera until Russia deployed hundreds of Wagner Group paramilitaries, pushing the rebels back. Bozizé then fled to Chad and later Guinea-Bissau.
