UN-backed court issues warrant for Central African ex-leader
(FILES) Former Central African Republic President Francois Bozize arrives prior his first press conference since his return at the Kwa Na Kwa headquarters in Bangui, Central African Republic (CAR), on January, 27, 2020. A UN-backed court announced on April 30, 2024 it has issued an arrest warrant for Central African Republic's former president Francois Bozize over possible crimes against humanity committed by imprisoned soldiers between 2009 and 2013.
Bozize who seized power in the Central African Republic in 2003 in a coup before being overthrown 10 years later by rebels and now heads the country's main rebellion, has been in exile in Guinea-Bissau since March 2023. (Photo by FLORENT VERGNES / AFP)
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A UN-backed court announced Tuesday it has issued an arrest warrant for the Central African Republic's former president Francois Bozize over possible crimes against humanity committed by the military between 2009 and 2013.
Bozize, 77, who seized power in Central Africa in 2003 in a coup before being overthrown 10 years later and now heads the country's main rebellion, has been in exile in Guinea-Bissau since March 2023.
The international warrant was issued February 27, according to a communique from the Special Criminal Court (CPS), a hybrid jurisdiction located in the capital Bangui with Central African and foreign magistrates in charge of investigating war crimes committed since 2003 in the country, which has endured civil wars and authoritarian regimes sice independence from France in 1960.
The court's magistrates are probing possible "crimes against humanity" committed by Bozize's presidential guard at a prison and at a military training facility between February 2009 and March 2013.
The judges concluded that "the existence of serious and consistent evidence against (Bozize), likely to incur his criminal liability, in his capacity as hierarchical superior and military leader".
© Agence France-Presse
