Mahamat Said Abdel Kani, a former Central African Republic rebel commander has been arraigned for his war crimes at the International Criminal Court -ICC in Hague, Switzerland.
He was arraigned on a seven-count charge consisting of war crimes, murder, crimes against humanity, and torturing of opposition supporters.
At the first hearing on Tuesday, prosecutors revealed that Abdel Kani had been a senior Seleka commander in charge of a police compound where supporters of former president Francois Bozize were beaten and thereafter tortured after they were arrested.
Sometimes referred to as Abdel Kani who was often addressed as “colonel”, “chief” or “director”, reportedly oversaw the day-to-day operations of the Seleka, a minority Muslim militant group that was formed by a police unit called the Central Office for the Repression of Banditry or the OCRB.
The torture technique the former rebel commander had planned for his enslaved involved tying the individual’s elbows to their feet behind their backs. This placed those being tortured in a highly painful position which more often than not, led to permanent bodily damage.
“Prisoners were kept in cramped conditions and even thrown in a tiny underground cell, accessible only through a hole in the floor of Said’s office at the OCRB headquarters in the capital.”
“Others more were whipped with horsehide whips or sticks with metal wires and beaten with truncheons on their feet while kneeling. Some still would have their ears pulled with pliers and partially ripped off,” ICC prosecutors had revealed.
Abdel Kani was turned over to the ICC by the CAR authorities in January 2021, after an international arrest warrant was issued in 2019.
