DAKAR, Senegal
The trial of Hissene Habre, a former Chadian president accused of committing crimes against humanity while in office, kicked off on Monday – under heavy security – in Senegalese capital Dakar.
The former head of state was escorted to the courtroom by Senegalese security forces.
“He did not want to come; he was taken by force,” Mouth Bane, Habre's former communications officer, said.
The former president, for his part, has condemned the trial as politically motivated.
“This isn’t a trial; it’s a farce!” Habre declared at Monday’s court hearing, claiming he was the victim of “neocolonialism.”
Several of Habre's young supporters made similar assertions outside the courthouse.
"This isn’t a trial – it’s an insult to Africa, for which Senegal must take responsibility," one young Habre supporter, insisting on anonymity, said.
The court, meanwhile, was surrounded by a heavy police presence.
"Police are mobilized to ensure security inside the courtroom while security forces are deployed outside," Marcel Mendy, communications director for the Extraordinary African Chambers, said.
The Extraordinary African Chambers is a special court tasked by the Senegalese government and the African Union with trying the former Chadian dictator.
“This is an important trial,” Mendy told reporters on Sunday. “That’s why why no detail is being left out.”
Habre, Chad’s seventh president, ruled the country from 1982 to 1990.
He now stands accused by the court of having committed crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture during his eight years in office.
