“Following President Djotodja’s resignation in 2014, the Anti-Balaka [a predominantly Christian militia group] turned on the Muslim population in the streets of Guen and carried out massacres of civilians, women and children,” prosecutor Alain Ouaby-Békaï told Justice Info as the Special Criminal Court’s fourth trial was due to open at the end of 2025.
Proceedings in this so-called “Guen” trial concluded on June 11 with the judges cross-examining the defendants on facts presented during the seven-week hearing. The trial concerns war crimes and crimes against humanity committed between February and March 2014 in the towns of Gadzi, Guen and Djomo, in western Central African Republic (CAR).
Initially, there were to be six defendants. With one on the run and another having died, there are now four. Three were dressed in orange prison uniforms – Edmond Beina, Philémon Kahena (alias CB) and François Boybanda (alias Balère) – whilst Dieudonné Gomitoua appeared as a free man, in civilian clothes. One by one, the judges of the Special Criminal Court (CPS) questioned them over several days regarding the crimes of which they are accused: looting, murder, forced displacement, rape, sexual slavery, extermination, persecution, and inhuman and degrading treatment. All the defendants present pleaded not guilty. To establish their guilt, the prosecution brought around 20 witnesses to Bangui, with the number rising to around 40 as the trial progressed.
Boybanda: “I was in my field, I know nothing”
Boybanda, a clan leader in the village of Gbaïna near Guen, explained to the court on June 11 that he had been “driven out” of Guen and into his field by the Seleka rebels [a predominantly Muslim coalition], who, he said, beat him and gave him a broken rib in 2013.
“Was it to take revenge that you formed an Anti-Balaka group?” asked presiding judge Aimé Pascal Délimo.
“No, Your Honour, there has never been an Anti-Balaka group in the region.”
“But why do your co-defendants call you Anti-Balaka in their statements?”
The defendant remained silent in response to this question. The judge then asked him if he knew his co-defendants.
“Yes, Philémon Kahena is chairman of the Guen youth organisation; Edmond Beina is known as an Anti-Balaka leader who came from the Tédoua region in Ombella Mpoko to fight the Seleka forces who were committing atrocities in the region.”
“What were Beina and his men doing in the town?”
“I was in my field; I know nothing.”
Kahena: “I was working with the Anti-Balaka to bring peace”
Kahena is also accused of leading an Anti-Balaka group. When questioned by the court, he stated that he was working on behalf of the NGO Finn Church Aid, with whom he was documenting cases of human rights violations whilst, as he put it, “advising” self-defence groups.
“Where were you at the time of the events?” the presiding judge asked him.
“I was in my field, four kilometres from Guen. I had been staying there for several months with my late mother-in-law, who was ill.”
“Why did you leave [to return to Guen]?”
“I’d heard news of my younger brother’s death, so I went for the funeral.”
“Who killed him?”
“It was members of the Séléka. That is what I was told.”
“Did you form your group to take revenge?”
“No, Your Honour. These accusations are unjustly levelled against me. I was working with the Anti-Balaka to bring about peace.
“Why are you called CB?”
“It’s the nickname my paternal aunt gave me, because of my resemblance to a brigade commander [CB] stationed in Guen when I was a child. In Guen, there are more than three CBs…
Gomitoua: “I saw Beina kill people in cold blood”
Gomitoua, who appeared in court as a free man, is accused of taking part in the killing of more than 40 people at the home of a local chief, Ali Garba, who was sheltering Muslims. During the hearings, this violence committed on his compound – described by several witnesses as a place of refuge that became a scene of murder – became a central focus of the trial. Other events have been linked to this core incident: attacks on places of worship, murders and acts of violence in Djomo and Gadzi.
Gomitoua, a former MP for Guen, is portrayed by his defence as a figure of authority held hostage, powerless in the face of the Anti-Balaka and Beina in particular.
“According to a witness, you told Beina ‘sara koua ti mon’ (“do your job”). What did you mean by that?”
“Your Honour, I begged him not to carry out this massacre, but he did not understand me. Having lost patience, I therefore told him to do as he pleased, whilst knowing that one day justice would be done. That is the meaning of my words.”
“Did you have a weapon in your hand?”
“No, Your Honour. I was taken away on a motorbike whilst I was ill; it was Mayor Trixi who sent for me to intervene as a community leader.”
“Who killed all those people?”
“It was Beina and his men. He is indeed an Anti-Balaka leader. I saw him armed on several occasions. I also saw him kill people in cold blood.”
Beina: “The Muslim community was planning an attack”
Several witnesses stated during the trial that they had seen Beina giving orders, gathering men together and ordering their execution. When asked whether there was a hierarchy within the Anti-Balaka, a Muslim shopkeeper replied in the affirmative, naming Beina, Jean Bahara [tried in absentia] and Mathurin Kombo [deceased defendant] as influential figures, stating that they travelled together and that Beina called himself “Delta Force”.
Presented by the prosecution as the leader of the Anti-Balaka in Guen, Beina did not deny the facts alleged by the witnesses during his cross-examination on June 11. But he was also keen to shift the blame onto his co-accused and say that contrary to his statements “Gomitoua, who is my father’s age, had come with a firearm to kill Ali Garba, whom I took it on myself to protect.”
“Why do you think Gomitoua would have been involved in this massacre?” the presiding judge asked him.
“A political matter, no doubt. Also, the Muslim community in the region was planning an attack: a stock of ammunition had been found at Ali Garba’s home. Having learnt of these preparations, we decided to act.”
“Who is ‘we’?”
“Us and certain community leaders who said that this region is their heritage, and that they could not stand by and watch outsiders attack the local people.”
Hearings in the Guen trial are due to resume on Monday August 24 with closing arguments from the civil parties, prosecution and defence. They are scheduled to conclude on August 31.
“PIECES OF EVIDENCE”
On March 2, 2026, the prosecution presented “evidence against the accused” to the judges of the Special Criminal Court (CPS) in the Guen trial. These include mobile phones of various makes belonging to the defendants. For the defendant Edmond Beina, the court presented a mini transistor radio and a knife. A 50-page notebook brought by a prosecution witness – a leader of the Muslim community – was also added, containing 89 names of Muslims said to have lost their lives during the events.
The court also screened three videos. The first shows graves or mass graves of people who lost their lives during the events in Guen. The second shows a telephone conversation in which a man’s voice – believed to be that of Beina – confirms the massacre of more than 40 Muslims in Guen. The third video features the testimony of a young Muslim girl who was 12 years old at the time of the events. She states that her father and brother were killed in Guen before her eyes.
