29 July 2016: Chad’s ex dictator is forced to pay compensation to regime’s victims
Hissène Habré, former Chad dictator, is requested to pay millions for crimes against humanity in Chad which concern rapes and tortures. This decision was taken by a court in Senegal. The dictator was sentenced by the Extraordinary African Chambers, a court set up specifically to judge him. Hissène Habré was president of Chad in the 1980s. During this perion he built a complex system of terror. Large groups of civilians were arrested, raped and tortured then. They were imprisoned in very poor conditions. He personally oversaw the secret police that administered punishment for accused people.
It is unclear where the money will come from. as just two small bank accounts and a house were seized by when Habré was arrested the Senegalese government seized just two small bank accounts and house. These assets are worth a combined total of less than $1m.
One of the Habré’s victims - Souleymane Guengueng founded the Association of Victims of Crimes of the Regime and precisely collected testimonies from hundreds of victims, years before a trial even seemed possible.
He suffered a lot in jail and watched fellow inmates die of hunger and disease around him. After that he made a promise to himself to fight for justice and never give up on trying to put on trial the former president.
Human rights supporting groups including Amnesty and Redress requested from the international community some donations to a trust fund for the victims, in case the amount of compensation raised by Habré’s assets was not enough.
