Mahamat Said Abdel Kani is accused of torturing prisoners during a brief period in 2013 when the Seleka rebel group took power in the Central African Republic.

An alleged former rebel commander in the Central African Republic pleaded not guilty on Monday to multiple charges of "awful" war crimes.

Mahamat Said Abdel Kani, 52, was allegedly a member of the mainly-Muslim Seleka rebel group, which briefly took power in 2013 until the start of 2014. He is accused of torturing opposition supporters during that period of sectarian unrest.

Said appeared at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where he is facing seven charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

After a court officer read out charges including torture, unlawful imprisonment and persecution, Said told the three-judge panel: "I have listened to everything, and I plead not guilty."

Said accused of 'grotesque abuse'

ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan told the court that Said oversaw day-to-day operations at a detention center called the Central Office for the Repression of Banditry.

"His voice determined the fates of so many individuals," Khan said.

The prosecutor said Said instructed his subordinates to use the "arbatachar" torture method, in which a person's elbows are tied to their feet behind their back. This caused excruciating pain and left some prisoners with partial paralysis and numbness.

He also said prisoners were kept in cramped cells, including one that was only accessible through a hole in the floor of Said's office in Bangui.

"These are cells in which men were detained and subjected to what the prosecution says was grotesque abuse," Khan said.

Said was extradited to the ICC by Central African authorities in 2021. It is the first time that a member of the Seleka group, which overthrew President Francois Bozize, has stood trial at the ICC.

(dpa, Reuters, AFP, AP)