Bringing a Dictator to Justice: The Case of Hissène Habré

Abstract

In May 2015, the former Chadian dictatorHissène Habré is scheduled to face trial for brutality against his own people before a special chamber in the Senegalese courts established in 2013. Habré's trial will mark the first time in history that the courts of one country try the former leader of another country for human rights crimes. The advent of the trial, 25 years after Habré's fall, is entirely due to the perseverance of Habré's victims and their non-governmental organization (NGO) allies. The launch of proceedings before the Extraordinary African Chambers has also spurred justice efforts back in Chad, where former agents of Habré's political police now stand trial for torture and murder and the president has finally promised compensation to Habré's victims. The Habré case shows that it is possible for a victim/NGO coalition, with tenacity and imagination, to create the political conditions for a successful universal jurisdiction prosecution, even against a former head of state. It also highlights many of the practical problems of litigating crimes far away from the territorial state without the complete cooperation of that state's government.