International Criminal Court convicts Central African militia leader
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Mahamat Said Abdel Kani, a former alleged Seleka commander, attends a ruling in his case at the International Criminal Court, where he faces charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed in Bangui in 2013, in The Hague, Netherlands
By Stephanie van den Berg
THE HAGUE, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Judges at the International Criminal Court convicted on Wednesday a former Seleka militia leader from the Central African Republic of crimes against humanity including torture.
Prosecutors accused Mahamat Said Abdel Kani of running a prison where suspected supporters of then-President Francois Bozize were beaten and tortured. He denied all charges.
Presiding judge Miatta Maria Samba said that Said and others oversaw beatings and torture of prisoners as part of a plan to target perceived Bozize supporters in the capital Bangui.
He was found guilty on four counts of crimes against humanity including persecution and torture. The judges dismissed several war crimes charges, finding that at the time the alleged crimes were committed the armed conflict had already ended.
The predominantly Muslim rebels known as Seleka, or "alliance" in the Sango language, seized power in 2013 as part of the Central African Republic's long-running civil war, ousting Bozize. Their rule gave rise to opposing "anti-Balaka" Christian-dominated militias.
The ICC has been investigating the violence in the Central African Republic since 2014. It has convicted two "anti-Balaka" leaders, but Said is the first Seleka member to be convicted.
Said, dressed in jeans and a blue sweatshirt, gave no reaction as the verdict was read out on Wednesday.
A separate hearing will determine his sentence.
There was no immediate reaction to Said's conviction from the Central African Republic's government.
Nelly Azoukateme, who believes her son and brother had been abducted by the militia, called the verdict "a small victory".
"The fact that he was found guilty brings me some peace of mind, and the same is true for many other victims. However, the fact that the court dismissed several charges will most certainly result in a lighter sentence," she told Reuters.
(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg; Additional reporting by Pacome Pabandji; Editing by Bart Meijer, Andrew Cawthorne and Sanjeev Miglani)
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