ICC convicts former Central African Republic militia leader

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has convicted a Central African Republic militia commander of crimes against humanity, including torture .

Judges in The Hague on Wednesday found Mahamat Said Abdel Kani guilty over his role of running a Seleka detention facility in Bangui, where supporters of then-President Francois Bozize were rounded up and tortured during the country’s 2013 civil war.

Said, 56, was acquitted of three war crimes charges as the judges ruled that the armed conflict had already ended when some of the alleged crimes happened.

Judge Miatta Maria Samba said Said oversaw the torture at the Central Office for the Repression of Banditry, where detainees were whipped, waterboarded and bound using a method called “Arbatacher”, in which detainees’ hands, elbows and feet are tied together behind their backs.

Some prisoners were held in underground cells with no bathrooms or showers.

“The floor was covered in waste, and it smelled of faeces and urine,” Samba said.

She said a victim described how his life had been destroyed by the mistreatment.

Said, who denied the charges, appeared in court in jeans and a blue sweatshirt, looking unbothered as he shook his head when the verdict was read.