– Prison horrors –
Investigators found that at least 40,000 people were killed during Habre’s rule, which was marked by fierce repression of opponents and the targeting of rival ethnic groups.
Witnesses have recounted the horror of life in Chad’s prisons, describing in graphic detail abusive and often deadly punishments inflicted by Habre’s feared secret police, the Documentation and Security Directorate (DDS).
Victims were subject to electric shocks and waterboarding while some had gas sprayed in their eyes or spice rubbed into their genitals, the court heard.
Habre’s defence team has sought to cast doubt on the prosecution argument that their client was an all-knowing, all-powerful head of the DDS, suggesting he may have been unaware of abuses on the ground.
Mahamat Moussa, a former detainee, said a guilty verdict would provide solace to many families left without answers 25 years after Habre left office.
“A verdict proportionate with the crimes committed by Habre will allow many families to properly mourn and offer some comfort from the suffering we former prisoners endured,” Moussa said, speaking at the headquarters of a victims’ association in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena.
“I hope he spends the rest of his life in prison,” he added.
For more than 20 years, the former dictator lived freely in an upmarket Dakar suburb with his wife and children, swapping his military garb for billowing white robes and a cap.
The African Union asked Senegal to try Habre in July 2006, but the country delayed the process for years under former president Abdoulaye Wade, despite an agreement to create the special court.
If convicted, Habre can expect a sentence of between 30 years and life with hard labour, that will be served in Senegal or another African Union country.
“While some African leaders have claimed that Africa is unfairly targeted by international courts, the challenge has been to put teeth into African justice,” said Brody of Human Rights Watch.
“This case is a tremendous precedent to show that African courts can deliver justice for crimes committed in Africa”.
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