The International Criminal Court, ICC, prosecutor has just withdrawn charges against a former militia leader from the Central African Republic, –CAR, as there had been no prospects of conviction.
The prosecutor’s office had disclosed this information to the public on Thursday, October 19.
The prosecutors had earlier stated that Maxime Mokom, an ex-national coordinator of so-called anti-balaka militias, had played a vital role in a plan to destructively target the Muslim civilian population in 2013 and 2014.
The prosecutors office had said that having considered the whole evidence in the Mokom case and in consideration of the changed circumstances regarding the availability of witnesses, there are no longer any valid prospects of conviction at trial even if the charges were confirmed.
During a hearing in August, Mokom had revealed that he had played no part in any of the violent attacks on Muslim civilians in the years 2013 and 2014– a crime that prosecutors had wanted to charge him with.
Mokom had instead informed the court he was a refugee stuck in the neighbouring DR Congo for most of the period listed in the charges, but the prosecutors had said that he had planned the deployment of militias and oversaw attacks.
CAR has been enmeshed in violence since a partnership of mostly northern and predominantly Muslim rebels known as “Seleka, or Alliance” in the Sango language, took over in March 2013.
Their dominance then gave rise to the opposing anti-balaka Christian militias.
The ICC has been looking into the violence in CAR since May 2014. At present, there are two ongoing trials before the court involving two other anti-balaka leaders and a Seleka leader.
