Photo credit: Piroschka van de Wouw/EPA
The International Criminal Court has convicted two leaders of a predominantly Christian rebel group in the Central African Republic for multiple war crimes committed against Muslim civilians during the country’s civil war in 2013 and 2014. Both were sentenced to over a decade in prison.
The former president of the CAR Football Federation, Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona, along with Alfred Yekatom, a rebel leader known as “Rambo,” were found guilty on Thursday of their involvement in atrocities including murder, torture and attacking civilians, News.Az reports citingn Al Jazeera.
The court sentenced Yekatom to 15 years for 20 war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Ngaissona received 12 years for 28 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The charges stem from their roles as senior leaders in a militia known as the anti-Balaka, which was formed in 2013 after mainly Muslim Seleka rebels stormed the capital Bangui in March of that year and toppled then-President Francois Bozize, a Christian.
The violence that ensued left thousands of civilians dead and displaced hundreds of thousands of others. Mosques, shops and homes were looted and destroyed.
The ICC’s presiding Judge Bertram Schmitt read harrowing details in The Hague of the violence committed by the militia against suspected Seleka Muslims.
Yekatom’s men tortured one suspect by cutting off his fingers, toes, and one ear. This man’s body was never found. Others were killed and then mutilated.
Appearing in court dressed in a light brown suit and waistcoat, white shirt, and dark tie, Yekatom listened impassively as the judge read out the verdict.