First Case for Central African Republic's Special Criminal Court

Starting on April 19, 2022, three defendants from the 3R (Return, Reclamation and Rehabilitation) armed group were to be tried before a mixed court sitting in Bangui for acts committed in May 2019 in Lemouna and Koundjili, in the northwest of the country. This includes "killings and other inhumane acts constituting crimes against humanity," according to the court's statement.

But the trial has been postponed to April 25 because defence attorneys failed to show up in an apparent boycott of the trial, Deutsche Welle reports.

Five years after the arrival of the special prosecutor in Bangui in 2017, and five months after a humiliation in the Hassan Bouba case, the independence of the court is being questioned.

A former number two in the Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC) rebel group, and currently Minister of Livestock, Bouba is believed to be responsible for the November 2018 attack on an IDP camp in Alindao, 500 km east of Bangui, which resulted in the deaths of at least 112 villagers, including 19 children.

Arrested on November 19 by the CPS on several charges, including crimes against humanity for "murder, inhumane acts" and "cruel treatment such as torture," Bouba was initially taken by Central African special forces to Camp de Roux, the central prison in Bangui. But a few days later, he was taken back "by the presidential guard" to his home in the PK5 neighborhood, according to several eyewitnesses.