Lawyers of former Chadian president Hiss\u00e8ne Habr\u00e9, on trial for war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture, are counter-attacking from outside the special court in Dakar which is trying him and which they are boycotting like their client. First in their line of attack is current Chadian president Idriss Deby, who ousted Habr\u00e9, followed by Senegalese President Macky Sall, whom they accuse of protecting Deby.<\/p>\n
Lawyers Ibrahima Diawara and Fran\u00e7ois Serres say Deby should not be running his country but be in a cell in Dakar\u2019s Cap Manuel prison with Habr\u00e9.<\/p>\n
Habr\u00e9 is on trial for crimes committed in Chad under his regime (1982 to 1990), notably by his notorious political police, the Directorate of Documentation and Security (DDS). He is being tried by the Extraordinary African Chambers, set up within the Senegalese justice system under an agreement between Dakar and the African Union.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday July 22, two days before Habr\u00e9\u2019s trial was due to open, two ministers from Deby\u2019s government invited journalists to a press conference in Dakar to hail the opening of this \u201chistoric trial\u201d but also to reiterate that their President was a \u201cvictim\u201d, not an accomplice of Hiss\u00e8ne Habr\u00e9 and his DDS.<\/p>\n
Idriss Deby \u201cwas never associated from near or far with the Directorate of Documentation and Security, the killing machine that is now in the dock\u201d, said Chadian Minister of Communication Hassan Sylla Bakari, admitting only that Deby was head of the army at the time.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt is difficult to falsify history or to rewrite it,\u201d the two Habr\u00e9 lawyers respond in a press release. \u201cIt is true that Idriss Deby was army chief of staff, as the two ministers said, but he was later appointed adviser to the presidency for all defence and security matters. That means he was in charge of all the defence and security services, including the DDS.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like their client Habr\u00e9, lawyers Ibrahima Diawara and Fran\u00e7ois Serres contest the legality and independence of the Extraordinary African Chambers (EAC) and are boycotting the trial.<\/p>\n
The two lawyers say the EAC has summoned Idriss Deby \u201ctwice to answer on facts that fall within the mandate of the court and in which he is considered to have been directly involved\u201d.<\/p>\n
According to them, Deby refused to answer the summons because he feared that he would be charged. An opportunity nevertheless arose, the two lawyers say, which the EAC did not have the courage to take. \u201cThe judges even had the possibility to question him a few months ago when he was attending an international security conference in Dakar,\u201d they say.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe judges preferred not to do so, thus violating their obligations and mandate and proving once again, if it were necessary, their lack of independence and their submission to the two political executives (Chad and Senegal),\u201d the lawyers continue. \u201cThis set a path allowing Idriss Deby to refuse to cooperate with the EAC by refusing to hand over people it wanted and thus ruining the image of this international court, which has become just a machine to execute President Habr\u00e9.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The Chadian government had been cooperating with the EAC, but relations became tense in August 2014 after the court rejected N'Djamena\u2019s bid to be a civil party in the Habr\u00e9 case. In retaliation, Chad refused at the end of October 2014 to allow a fifth EAC rogatory commission into Chad, and refused to transfer to the EAC two of Habr\u00e9\u2019s suspected main accomplices, Saleh Younouss and Mahamat Djibrine. Younouss and Djibrine were put on trial in Chad with some 20 other people and in March sentenced to life in prison<\/p>\n
Habr\u00e9\u2019s lawyers say the position of the EAC judges is a source of conflict with Chad and \u201cone of the factors behind its refusal to cooperate, along with its fear of having the real history of Chad revealed to the world\u201d. \u201cThe regime has continued to terrorize Chadians throughout the judicial investigations,\u201d they say, \u201cwith the complicity of the EAC, which has not called any witness for the defence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Habr\u00e9\u2019s lawyers think Deby, who was \u201chead of the armed forces and physically present on the ground during operations, cannot escape justice, as is the case for all the political and military leaders of that period, the one before and the one after the fall of President Habr\u00e9.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe EAC judges and (Senegalese) President Macky Sall are not dispensing justice,\u201d\u00a0the lawyers also say. \u201cThey are carrying out a contract with the enemies of Africa, one that provides for selective and politically motivated justice, and they are incited to do so by the billions (of CFA francs) misappropriated from \u00a0the Chadian people to fund a conviction that has been bought in advance.\u201d This is a reference to the 2 billion CFA francs that the Chadian government has provided in funding for the EAC.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday July 21, the trial of Hiss\u00e8ne Habr\u00e9 was postponed to September 7 to give three court-assigned lawyers time to study the case files.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Lawyers of former Chadian president Hiss\u00e8ne Habr\u00e9, on trial for war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture, are counter-attacking from outside the special court in Dakar which is trying him and which they are boycotting like their client. First in their line of attack is current Chadian president Idriss Deby, who ousted Habr\u00e9, followed by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":65552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[],"ji_location":[2167],"class_list":["post-1391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mixed-tribunals","ji_location-chad"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n