Former Chadian President Hissene Habre Crime Against Humanity Trial Begins
(Reuters) – Former Chadian president Hissene Habre was again forcefully brought into a special court in Dakar on Tuesday by security officials on the second day of his trial for crimes against humanity.
He remained silent when the presiding judge asked for his lawyers.
The proceedings were suspended when his lawyers did not show after several minutes and the presiding judge appointed three lawyers to represent him.
Dressed in a white robe, a matching turban and clutching prayer beads, Habre sat silently alone on a chair in front of the panel of judges, surrounded by eight security personnel.
Habre has refused to recognise the Extraordinary African Chambers (CAE) established with the backing of the African Union to try him.
On the first day of the trial on Monday, Habre, 72, was forced to appear in the courtroom where with some supporters, he disrupted the hearing and had to be removed and the court adjourned.
Habre's trial caps a 15-year battle by victims and rights campaigners to bring the former strongman to justice in Senegal, where he fled after being toppled in a coup.
The case against Habre turns on whether he personally ordered the killing and torture of political opponents and ethnic rivals.
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