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Former Mauritanian President Mohmamed Ould Abdel Aziza was arrested on Tuesday and detained in Nouakchott. He was indicted on March 12 for corruption, embezzlement of public property and money laundering during his presidency between 2008 and 2019. He is not the only former African leader facing justice. Overview.
What gives today Mohmamed Ould Abdel Aziz in custody, these are accusations of economic crime, in the report of a parliamentary committee issued in July 2020, and in particular acts of corruption.
Corruption is what led to the first conviction offormer Sudanese president Omar al-BashirDecember 14, 2019, eight months after his fall. Two years in prison after admitting to receiving about $ 90 million from Saudi Arabia, while denying that he had enriched himself with that money.
The legal agenda for Khartoum’s ex-commander is still well established, as three other proceedings are under way: regarding his 1989 coup (trial began in July 2020), crimes committed in Darfur and the assassination. Protesters during revolt that led to its fall. Not to mention the two arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court for “war crimes”, “crimes against humanity” and “genocide” in Darfur, but which the Sudanese crossing is currently refusing to execute.
Jacob Zuma’s legal tunnel
Across the continent, a former leader is also in a legal tunnel: South Africa Jacob Zuma, associated with a very long list of economic scandals, is subject to procedures in three parts: “state capture”, “arms agreement” and “Nkandlagate”.
The first, “the capture of state funds”, also known as “Guptagate”, is the core of a commission of inquiry that has been accused for three years of discovering the extent of embezzlement and embezzlement that the country has experienced during its presidency, mainly in favor of India. the Gupta family. Such extensive work that the President of the Commission, Raymond Zondo, has just asked for a new extension of three months, while its work would be completed by the end of June. In the second part, Jacob Zuma is accused of having received around 235,000 euros on assignment between 1995 and 2004, before joining the presidency, to help the French company Thales reach an arms deal. The procedure is extended as the ex-president tries to use all the procedural means at his disposal, a strategy he calls “Stalingrad’s defense”. Finally, with regard to the work carried out with the taxpayer’s money (EUR 20 million), in his private residence in Nkandla, he was ordered in 2016 by the Constitutional Court to reimburse EUR 420,000.
In the Comoros, the former presidentAhmed Abdallah Sambi has been under house arrest for over three years now. He is accused of embezzling public funds in a scandal involving the sale of almost 50,000 passports that also splashed his successor Ikililou Dhoinine. According to the official report, the central government deficit was EUR 784 million. But no trial has yet been held.
Charles Taylort is likely to end his life in custody
Other leaders face convictions or prosecutions for human rights violations. Laurent Gbagbo just came in again Ivory Coast free and acquitted, his former neighbor, Liberian Charles Taylor, will likely end his life in custody in the north of England. In 2012, he was sentenced to fifty years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Special Court of Sierra Leone, for his involvement in the civil war that ravaged the country in the 1990s. He was the first former head of state to be convicted of international justice for this type of crime since the end of World War II. And the only one until May 30, 2016.
This day actually marks an important stage for justice in Africa, the conviction in the first instance ofHissène Habré of the Extraordinary African Chambers, an ad hoc jurisdiction created by Senegal and the African Union to try the former Chad president. His condemnation life imprisonment for crimes against humanity was established in the appeal the following year, together with 125 million euros in damages to the victims. He is currently serving his sentence in Senegal despite his family’s request for release for health reasons.
This mixed court can inspire other countries in the future. The Gambia in particular, including the Truth, Reconciliation and Equalization Commission, has just concluded two years of hearings and should be expected in its report to soon prosecute the former president. Yahya jammeh, entered exile in Guinea equatorial after its presidential defeat in December 2016.
Another case, that of Blaise Compaore. The former president of Burkinabè has lived in Côte d’Ivoire since his overthrow, a country of which he is a citizen. He is the subject of two proceedings: one for the repression of the 2014 demonstrations before the Supreme Court in Ouagadougou, the other for his alleged role in the murder of its predecessor. Thomas sankara 1987, which gave him accusations of “attacking state security”, “complicity in the murder” or even “hiding a corpse”. The investigation was closed, a trial must be held before a military court. Burkinabe’s reconciliation minister Zéphirin Diabré also met him recently to try to persuade him to return to take part in this trial.
About in Malithe former cup leader Amadou Sanogo released in mid-March by courts after years of house arrest, benefits from a “National Accord Law” that puts an end to the prosecution of him in the case of the murders of 21 red berets 2012, relatives of victims of the September 28, 2009 Guinea massacre still that justice should pass. The soldiers opened fire on a meeting with opponents and killed 157 people. A trial is still pending, especially against Junatan’s boss at the time. Moussa Dadis Camara, was confronted by ten other people living in exile in Burkina Faso.
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