The International Criminal Court convicted the former Central African Republic rebel commander, Mahamat Said Abdel Kani, on four counts of crimes against humanity committed while he was in charge of a detention center in 2013.
The court found that Mahamat Said Abdel Kani, 56, oversaw beatings and maltreatment as the country was gripped by sectarian violence. During his trial, he pleaded not guilty to all charges for the crimes which were carried out between April and August 2013.
“I have listened to everything, and I am pleading not guilty,” he told the judges.
In an opening statement, ICC chief prosecutor underlined that Said had “actively participated” in hunting down people from certain ethnic groups or neighborhoods and subjecting them “to the most dire conditions that he could conjure up.”
According to the prosecutor, people were even kept under Said’s feet in a cramped, feces-strewn, rat-infested underground space known as “the hole.” Detainees were subjected to torture, with their hands, elbows and legs bound behind their back, and beaten with gun butts and whips, Khan alleged.
A sentence, which could be life imprisonment, is to be handed down at a later date.
