Former Chad dictator Hissene Habre today denied the legitimacy of the special court set up to try him in Senegal for the deaths of thousands during his rule, but the head of the tribunal said he would be compelled to participate.
Habre's lawyers said he was forced to attend the first day of his trial for crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture an unprecedented case of one African country trying the former leader of another but he was quickly ushered back out after he and a few supporters in the court caused chaos.
"This is not a trial, this is a masquerade!" the white robed Habre shouted as he was taken away. "There is no trial. There are no lawyers. This is a false trial. Down with colonialism."
The Extraordinary African Chambers, a special tribunal, was created to try him in Senegal for the alleged crimes during his 1982-1990 rule.
Habre later issued a statement saying he had been illegally detained and would "not respond to the court." Tribunal head Gberdao Gustave Kam read the statement, adjourned proceedings until Tuesday and said Habre would be made to attend.
Lawyers for Habre have threatened to boycott the trial and one of them, Cire Cledor Ly, removed his legal robes in protest and took a seat in the court audience.
"They talk of international justice in Africa?" said Cledor Ly. "This is theater."
Habre was first indicted by a Senegalese judge in 2000, according to Human Rights Watch, but twists and turns, arrests and releases over more than a decade brought the case to Belgium, and then finally back to Senegal, where Habre fled after being overthrown in 1990.
Under a new president, Senegal's national assembly adopted a law to create the special tribunal.
It is the first trial in Africa of a universal jurisdiction case, in which a country's national courts can prosecute serious crimes committed abroad, by a foreigner and against foreign victims, said Human Rights Watch.
It is also the first time the courts of one country are prosecuting the former ruler of another for alleged human rights crimes.
"This is a first in Africa, and we must extend congratulations for this," said Mbaye Gueye, a neutral legal representative who addressed the court and called for a fair trial.
Many have argued that the International Criminal Court unfairly targets African leaders, so a fair trial with a credible verdict could support the argument that Africans can try their own.
