Central Africans call this the “empty chair trial”. The main defendant, former head of state (2003–2013) François Bozizé, is not in the dock. Instead, sitting in a wheelchair, is Eugène Ngaïkoisset, alongside Firmin Junior Danboy and Vianney Semndiro. They are all members of the military from the Gbaya ethnic group, the same as Bozizé’s. These men are accused of having acted as Bozizé’s henchmen. They are being prosecuted for having been in charge of the Bossembélé military training centre, 150 kilometres north of Bangui, and for having exercised control over the Bossembélé civilian prison where the judicial authorities had no power. The military training centre was regarded as a place where the former head of state’s political opponents were punished.
This is the fifth trial before the Special Criminal Court (CPS) in the Central African Republic’s capital Bangui. The crimes being tried there, classified as crimes against humanity, took place in Bangui, Bossembélé and Bouar between February 2009 and 2013. Since the trial began on June 6, the alleged perpetrators have seen 18 witnesses take the stand out of some 50 announced.
The June 2010 fire at Rayan supermarket in Bangui city centre is one of the incidents forming part of the case. A hearing on October 5 was devoted to questioning Prosper Banga, a former member of the Bar Council. He worked at the law firm of a Togolese national who was opposed to the sale of the Bangui 2000 building, which Rayan owner Ali Akhras wanted to acquire. According to witness Banga, who is also a victim, Bozizé allegedly ordered his arrest and those of more than 20 other people all sent to Bossembélé prison. He affirms that his arrest was unlawful. He said those detained included employees of the law firm and of the Rayan supermarket, all accused of setting fire to its premises, resulting in a loss of several hundred million CFA francs. The witness claims he was put in arbitrary detention and spent four days at the Research and Investigation Section (SRI), an investigative unit of the National Gendarmerie in Bangui, before being transferred to Bossembélé by the Presidential Guard.
A room crawling with scorpions
“We were transported in a container attached to the back of a large vehicle and escorted by the Presidential Guard,” said Banga. “We arrived in Bossembélé at night; it was Captain Semndiro who received us. He had been told we were François Bozizé’s personal prisoners. We were then put in a very dirty room, crawling with scorpions and fleas. We slept on the floor.
“Semndiro would occasionally give us enough money to buy food,” the witness continued. “There was a prisoner in the room whose physical condition spoke volumes. He told us: ‘when you come here, you’d better know how to pray’. He told us he had been captured at the border with Chad, along with many other people who were killed and buried within the grounds of the training centre. Such a situation can only instil fear, Your Honour.”
“Did you suffer any physical violence?” asked presiding judge Aimé Pascal Délimon.
“No, Your Honour. But we were threatened by the soldiers, who told us: ‘you set fire to the Rayan supermarket; now it’s our turn to finish you off’. I had high blood pressure.”
“Do you know Charles Massy?”
“No, but I’ve heard of him. It was Dido, the one we found in the cell, who told us that he was also being held at the military interrogation centre [Massy was arrested in December 2009]. They’d taken him to BenZambé [Bozizé’s home village], but [Dido] didn’t know whether he was alive or dead. Because he never returned.”
Charles Massy, a former minister and opponent of the Bozizé regime, was tortured and then beheaded in 2012 by Bozizé’s henchmen, before being “dissolved in lye”, according to his son Eric Neric Massy, who gave evidence before the CPS last June. These henchmen allegedly even made a video of Massy’s torture, which remains missing. According to Massy’s son, Bozizé watched it at the presidential palace with his henchmen, some of whom are among the defendants in the dock. Eric Massy told the judges he learned these things from an unnamed friend of one of Bozizé’s sons who had heard them from the son himself.
“How long did you spend at the interrogation centre?” asked the judge.
“After a month, we were ordered to be transferred to the Bossembélé civilian prison, but the situation there was still dire,” replied the witness.
“Why do you say that?”
“As soon as we arrived, we were put in a room with a red door. It was a very small cell where we were crammed together. We slept in our own excrement. Only one corporal, Yaya, had the keys to that cell. If you were put in there, you had to wait for him to return before you could get out, even if he went to Bangui.”
“Who ran this detention centre?”
“It was the Presidential Guard. The judicial authorities had no power over the civilian detention centre. But we were allowed visitors, unlike at the military investigation centre. It was thanks to us that prisoners from distant regions were able to eat. I remember the day one of us was ill. Immediately after eating, he vomited. One of the prisoners ran over, picked up the vomit and ate it. That’s when we realised the extent of their suffering.”
“How did the guards behave?”
“They behaved well as long as we gave them something. We gave them money. But those who didn’t have money were mistreated. People were even killed in the prison.”
“How did you return to Bangui?”
“In my case, I was seriously ill. It was the district chief medical officer who recommended my evacuation to Bangui.”
Little evidence
In response to this testimony, the defence argued that the remand in custody of those sent to Bossembélé was ordered by judicial authorities and so could not be blamed on the defendants. Some of them like Firmin Junior Danboy were not even in the country, according to Danboy’s lawyer Guy Rufin Pambangui.
The Special Public Prosecutor’s Office, represented by international prosecutor Alexandre Timbano, considers that the victims are not entitled to a defence, and that detainees may be deprived of their liberty but not all the fundamental needs of a human being.
Whilst the trial is proceeding in accordance with the rules, very little evidence has been presented to the court – with the exception of a few administrative documents sent to the relevant authorities to shed light on disappearances, videos of Éric Massy on the TV5 television channel speaking about his father’s disappearance, and a few newspaper reports on the disappearances and arrests, deemed arbitrary.
For Nicaise Doukoua of the Central African Human Rights Observatory, there is nevertheless a link between the accused and the alleged crimes, as they successively held command of the Bossembélé military training centre. “As for the civilian prison, why was it only the Presidential Guard that controlled the prison and not the Republican Guard?” he asked. He also mentioned the case of Semndiro, who is alleged to have slapped and imprisoned the prison governor after the governor objected to Semndiro removing prisoners – prisoners he would always return in smaller numbers, claiming they had escaped. Doukoua also mentioned the absence of CCTV footage from the Bangui 2000 building, which could be a key piece of evidence in establishing the truth.
