In a recent book, “To Catch a Dictator,” American lawyer, Reed Brody, describes the struggle to bring to justice a former dictator. The author worked on the case for Human Rights Watch for years and his book highlights the challenges of prosecuting dictators for their crimes.
Hissene Habre was the president of Chad from 1982 to 1990. During this tenure, he stole millions from the treasury and was responsible for the deaths of an estimated 40,000 people. He was toppled in 1990, and his crimes were exposed in 1992, but justice went nowhere. In 2000, a judge in Senegal—where Habre now lived a luxurious life in exile, complete with villa, servants, and dazzling view of the Atlantic Ocean—charged Habre with torture and other crimes. However, the new Senegalese president, who had ties to Habre, had the charges thrown out based on a lack of jurisdiction. In September 2005, a Belgian judge used the new precedence of universal jurisdiction to indict Habre and seek his extradition. Senegal, however, was infuriated that a former colonizer would insert itself into African affairs and denied the request. Nevertheless, the indictment embarrassed the African Union, which then ordered Senegal to prosecute Habre. The dictator was arrested in June 2013. The AU established a tribunal to hear the case and found Habre guilty in May 2016. He died in prison in August 2021. He is one of the few dictators ever to have been tried, let alone convicted, and much less served time for their crimes.
Rule-of-law takes a long time to develop in a society. In this case, rule-of-law finally overtook the personal relationship between dictators. The greatest step forward occurred when the African Union asserted itself to prioritize justice. This may signal a greater role for the AU in policing countries within its borders in the future.
While justice was a long time coming, its arrival spawned optimism for many. Says Chadian lawyer, Jacqueline Moudeina, who played a prominent role in the prosecution, a precedent has been set that “is now inspiring victims of abominable crimes in places like Gambia, the Central African Republic, and Cote d’Ivoire… [this is] the first milestone in a much broader fight.”
Source:
Steven Levingston, “A Dictator Finally Brought to Justice,” Washington Post, 12 December 2022, B1; see also https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/12/16/why-is-it-so-hard-bring-brutal-despots-justice/
Photo: Carley Petesch/Associated Press
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