Eight months after its inauguration, a special court in the Central African Republic charged with investigating rights abuses said Thursday it had started work on its first cases.
The Special Criminal Court is deciding cases involving violations of human rights or international humanitarian law committed in the volatile country since 2003, including war crimes and genocide.
"By the end of next year, the examination of the first cases could end and result in trials," the court's president Michel Louanga told a news conference.
The Special Criminal Court consists of 25 judges, 13 from the CAR and 12 foreigners, and has a total budget of 61 million euros.
It is backed by the United Nations and the European Union.
Prosecutor Toussaint Muntazini said the court has instituted three cases. Four other cases are under preliminary examination.
The court did not reveal the identity of the individuals targeted.
"Given the sensitive nature of the investigations as well as the unstable nature of security throughout the national territory, the highest level of confidentiality is needed," the court said in a statement.
"Those who have committed bloody crimes must appear before national and international justice," said Justice Minister Flavien Mbata.
In early February, the government and 14 armed groups signed a peace agreement negotiated in Sudan's capital Khartoum, the eighth deal aimed at resolving conflict in the CAR since 2013.
In 2017, the United Nations published a report recording crimes committed in the country between 2003 and 2015, some of them of the "the most abominable" kind, committed by all the warring sides.
One of the world's poorest and most unstable countries, CAR spiralled into bloodshed after longtime leader Francois Bozize was overthrown in 2013 by a mainly Muslim rebel alliance called the Seleka.
Since then, much of the country has been at the mercy of armed groups that seek to control gold, diamond and oil deposits, posing a formidable obstacle to peace and national reconciliation.
