\n Chad's brutal political police, blamed for countless atrocities under the regime of ex-president Hissene Habre, acted entirely under the orders of the dictator, his trial in Senegal heard on Wednesday.\n<\/p>\n
\n The 73-year-old, who fled to Dakar after being deposed in 1990, is being prosecuted in his adoptive country for war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture during eight years of repression.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Records of the questioning of detainees came back from the presidency with annotations: E for 'execute'; L for 'set free' or V for 'seen',\" said Bandjim Bandoum, a top officer in the Documentation and Security Directorate (DDS) under Habre's regime.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Once a statement was prepared by the DDS on a prisoner, only the president could request a release,\" he said, adding that Habre was \"aware of everything that was happening\" in the department's detention centres.\n<\/p>\n
\n Bandoum, who fled Chad to live in France, said DDS agents who challenged their orders risked their lives and the safety of their families.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Even Habre's closest collaborators were afraid of him,\" he told the Extraordinary African Chambers in Dakar.\n<\/p>\n
\n Mbaye Sene, defending, attempted to cast doubt on the idea of Habre as an all-knowing, all-powerful head of the feared department, however.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"If you've never been to the presidency, you've never talked to him, tell me how Hissene Habre gave you orders,\" he demanded, cross-examining the witness, who conceded that his instructions came from an immediate superior.\n<\/p>\n
\n Once dubbed \"Africa's Pinochet\", Habre has been in custody in Senegal since his arrest in June 2013 at the home he shared in a plush Dakar neighbourhood with his wife and children.\n<\/p>\n
\n He doesn't recognise the authority of the African Union-mandated court and has refused to cooperate with his trial, forcing the judges to appoint lawyers to defend him.\n<\/p>\n
\n Last week Mahamat Hassan Akabar, president of a commission into atrocities committed under Habre, told the court the number of Chadians killed during the dictator's time in power far exceeded the frequently-quoted estimate of 40,000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chad's brutal political police, blamed for countless atrocities under the regime of ex-president Hissene Habre, acted entirely under the orders of the dictator, his trial in Senegal heard on Wednesday. The 73-year-old, who fled to Dakar after being deposed in 1990, is being prosecuted in his adoptive country for war crimes, crimes against humanity and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-2142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n