Abdoulaye Hissène, former rebel leader of the Popular Front for the Renaissance of the Central African Republic (FRPC), was charged on Thursday September 7 with crimes against humanity and war crimes by the Special Criminal Court (CPS) responsible for judging the crimes committed during the civil war in the Central African Republic.
The Central African Republic, the second least developed country in the world according to the United Nations (UN), was plunged into a very deadly civil war in 2013, after a predominantly Muslim rebel coalition, the Séléka, overthrew President François Bozizé, in a country which is still experiencing violence in certain parts of the territory.
Abdoulaye Hissène, whose FFRPC was a faction of the former Séléka rebellion, was arrested on Monday and has been detained since, informed a source at the CPS on condition of anonymity. In 2022, he announced that he was leaving the armed movement during a reconciliation dialogue at the initiative of the President of the Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, in the absence of armed groups and the opposition.
Already targeted by UN sanctions
Abdoulaye Hissène appeared Thursday before the SCC which charged him with “several crimes against humanity and war crimes, committed on the territory of the Central African Republic (CAR), during 2017, in his capacity as leader” of the FRPC, she said in a statement.
Mr. Hissène has been targeted by UN sanctions since 2017 for his participation in acts “undermining the peace, stability or security of the Central African Republic”, and in “attacks”, in particular against the Minusca ? the UN force in the country ?, “the missions of the European Union and the French operations which support them”, specifies the UN.
The SPC was created in 2015 by the Central African government under the sponsorship of the UN. This hybrid court, made up of local and international magistrates, including judges and prosecutors from France, Togo and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), judges war crimes and crimes against humanity committed since 2003 in the country.
