Amnesty International (AI) has called on authorities in the Central African Republic (CAR) to arrest and prosecute individuals suspected of criminal responsibility for crimes against humanity.
In a research brief titled One Step Forward, Two Steps Backwards: Justice in the Central African Republic, AI said that despite government’s promises, dozens of suspects remain at large.
AI said its researchers visited CAR in October 2021 and had 35 meetings with 44 people – 33 men and 11 women – from government, civil society, judicial system, including the SCC and ordinary tribunals, and staff of the International Criminal Court.
In addition to the interviews, AI said it also analysed various documents including legal texts, UN and NGO reports, and speeches made by the authorities in the context of the fight against impunity.
The rights organisation said arrest warrants issued by the United Nations-sponsored Special Criminal Court (SCC) were not carried out, with only one out of 25 arrest warrants carried out so far.
The organisation also faulted the release of a former armed group leader suspected of being linked to the 2018 killing of more than 70 civilians, Hassan Bouba Ali, who was arrested in November 2021, but released a few days later, without any judicial authorisation.
The brief noted that CAR criminal courts have completely stopped their criminal sessions for over 20 months, leaving victims with no recourse and accused people in pre-trial detention for unreasonable periods of time.
AI called on CAR authorities to organise a minimum of six criminal sessions per year to ensure all alleged perpetrators of crimes and abuses committed since 2002 are investigated and prosecuted.
It also urged authorities to take all possible measures to ensure the execution of SCC arrest warrants.
‘More than six years after being established, and three years since its inauguration, the SCC is facing difficulties in bringing those suspected of criminal responsibility for crimes under international law to justice, including because of the non-execution of the arrest warrants it issued’, AI’s West and Central Africa director, Samira Daoud, said.
‘The release of Hassan Bouba Ali is the latest example of the lack of support by political authorities for the court’s mission’.
CAR has suffered waves of violence and armed conflicts since 2002, with numerous crimes under international law and other serious violations and abuses of human rights being committed with impunity.
These crimes against humanity were committed especially in the 2002–2003 conflict between troops of the former President Ange-Félix Patassé and armed groups headed by François Bozizé, and after 2012 by the Seleka, initially led by former President Michel Djotodia and the anti-Balaka groups associated with Bozizé.
‘CAR authorities and partners, including the UN, partner states and donors, must take all feasible measures to fulfil their commitments towards accountability, including by pushing for, and assisting in, the arrests and prosecutions of all suspects, regardless of the rank or political position they hold’, the brief said.
‘We [need] to see the real persecutors being tried, those who may have been at the head of the state or state institutions, and the leaders of rebel groups’.
Source: Amnesty International
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