A special court in Senegal has officially charged ex-Chad leader, Hissene Habre with war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture in the Senegalese capital Dakar.

The former Chadian president was first indicted in Senegal in 2000 but the country’s courts ruled at the time that he could not be tried there.

Mr. Habre seized power in a bloody coup d’état in 1982 and ruled the country until 1990 when he was ousted as the president of the country.

He fled to Senegal after he was deposed off power after eight years in power in 1990 and decided to seek refuge in Senegal with his nuclear family.

The 70 year old was arrested on Sunday in his residence in Dakar and put before trial on Tuesday. He denied killing and torturing tens of thousands of his opponents.

The charges against him date from 1982 when he was president. His alleged victims filed complaints under Belgium’s universal jurisdiction law to have him tried in anywhere he was.

He was then charged by Belgium with crimes against humanity and torture in 2005, but Senegal refused to extradite him on four occasions.

But he was put under house arrest together with his wife in 2005 and being guarded by two security guards. Analysts say Mr. Habre and his wife lived a low profile life in Dakar.

In 2008, a court in Chad sentenced Mr. Habre to death in absentia for planning to overthrow the government but the sentence was stopped following a plea from the United Nations.

Senegalese officials and the African Union had for years failed to take a decision on Mr. Habre’s fate despite pressure from human rights groups.

But members of Parliaments in Senegal passed a law in December last year, allowing a special African Union tribunal to be created in the country to try the former leader.

Since he has denied the charges, he has been put in custody pending investigation into the case but political analyst say the official investigation will take up to 15 months.

Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa News

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