The International Criminal Court on Thursday sentenced two Central African Republic militia leaders for crimes committed during the country’s civil war in 2013 and 2014.
A former lawmaker and militia commander, Alfred Yekatom, also known as Rambo, was handed a 15-year jail term for 20 war crimes and crimes against humanity. These include murder, torture and mutilation of civilians.
Yekatom was accused of ordering his men to torture and kill civilians. In one case, his fighters cut off a man’s fingers, toes and ear. The victim’s body was never found.
Alongside him, former sports minister and ex-football official Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona was sentenced to 12 years for 28 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was a senior leader of the anti-Balaka militia, a Christian self-defence group formed to fight back after Muslim rebels, known as Seleka, overthrew the Christian president at the time.
Both men denied all the charges during trial. Yekatom showed no reaction as the verdict was read, while Ngaissona nodded quietly.
Judge Bertram Schmitt, who presided over the case, said the acts committed by the men were cruel and targeted Muslim civilians who were suspected of supporting the Seleka.
The court found Yekatom not guilty of using child soldiers, and Ngaissona was cleared of rape.
Deputy ICC prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang said the judgment was a big step for justice in Central Africa.
“Today’s judgment is a vital recognition of the harm and suffering of the victims,” Niang said in a statement. “It sends a strong message that those who commit atrocity crimes will be held to account.”
Ngaissona was arrested in France in 2018 and later sent to The Hague, where the ICC is based. At the time of his arrest, he was president of the Central African Republic’s football association and a board member of the Confederation of African Football.
Yekatom had earlier been arrested for firing a gun inside parliament and was also flown to The Hague in 2018.
The Central African Republic has seen years of violence and power struggles since its independence in 1960. Though the capital is calmer now, fighting continues in some remote areas between armed groups and government forces.
