BANGUI, Central African Republic — An internationally backed court in the Central African Republic on Tuesday issued an international arrest warrant for the country’s exiled former president, François Bozizé, for human rights abuses from 2009 to 2013, a spokesperson said.
The Special Criminal Court was created in the capital, Bangui, to prosecute war crimes and other human rights violations committed during the coups d’état and violence that the country has experienced since 2003.
Court spokesman Gervais Bodagy Laoulé said the warrant was for crimes committed under Bozizé’s leadership in a civil prison and military training center in the city of Bossembélém, where many people were tortured and killed.
The warrant covers crimes from 2009 to 2013 committed by the presidential guard and other security forces, Laoulé said.
Bozizé currently lives in exile in Guinea-Bissau, where the President of that country, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, told the Associated Press that he had not received any request from Bangui regarding the arrest warrant, and that the country’s laws do not allow extradition.
Ibrahim Nour, whose father was tortured and killed in the infamous Bossembélé prison, welcomed the arrest warrant.
“Justice may be slow, but it will eventually catch up with the executioners. That is why I welcome the arrest warrant for the men who killed my father and for whom we await explanations so that we can begin to grieve,” said Nour.
The court was created in 2015, but it took several years to begin operating. Human Rights Watch described its creation as a milestone in advancing justice for victims of serious crimes.
Patryk Labuda, an expert in international criminal law at the Polish Academy of Sciences, told the AP that the warrant issued Tuesday sends a message about the court’s intention to prosecute irregularities committed by the state.
“This arrest warrant is certainly one of the most high-profile developments in the court’s five years of operation,” Labuda said.
Bozizé seized power in a coup in 2003 and was deposed by the predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels a decade later. This led to a civil war between the rebels and the mostly Christian militias, marked by atrocities of sectarian violence and the forced use of child soldiers.
Both the US and the United Nations targeted Bozizé with sanctions for fueling the violence.
The UN, which has a peacekeeping mission in the country, estimates that the fighting has killed thousands of people and displaced more than a million people, or a fifth of the population. In 2019, a peace agreement was reached between the government and 14 armed groups, but fighting continues.
Around 10,000 children still fight alongside armed groups in the Central African Republic more than a decade after the start of the civil war, the government said earlier this year.
“It is a great day for us, the victims, to learn that François Bozizé is the target of an international arrest warrant,” said Audrey Yamalé, member of the Association of Victims of the 2013 Crisis. “But we will not stop there. We would like Guinea-Bissau to cooperate in his extradition.”
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Assana reported from Bissau. Associated Press writer Jessica Donati in Dakar, Senegal contributed.
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