DAKAR: Chadian dictator Hissene Habre went on trial Monday in Senegal, a quarter of a century after his bloodsoaked reign came to an end, in a prosecution seen as a test case for African justice.
Once dubbed "Africa's Pinochet", the 72-year-old has been in custody in Senegal since his arrest in June 2013 at the home he shared in an affluent Dakar suburb with his wife and children.
Dressed in white robes and a turban, Habre pumped a fist in the air and cried "God is greatest" as he was escorted by prison guards into the Extraordinary African Chambers in the Senegalese capital.
He refused legal representation, having consistently said he did not recognise the court's jurisdiction and vowing not to cooperate with the trial.
The courthouse, packed with around 1,000 participants, spectators and local and international media, heard a number of introductory speeches before it emerged the defendant was refusing to enter the dock.
"These chambers that I call an 'extraordinary administrative committee' are illegitimate and illegal. Those who preside here are not judges but simple functionaries," Habre said in a statement read out by the chief judge.
He said he had been "kidnapped" and "illegally detained" and therefore had no case to answer.
The court adjourned for the day, ruling that Habre would be conducted by force to the dock for the second day of the trial on Tuesday.
Habre -- backed during his presidency by France and the United States as a bulwark against Libya's Moamer Kadhafi -- is on trial for crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture in Chad from 1982 to 1990.
AFP
