A worldwide arrest warrant for violations of human rights is issued for the exiled former president of the Central African Republic

The former president of the Central African Republic is the subject of an international arrest warrant due to violations of human rights.

On Tuesday, François Bozizé, the exiled former president of the Central African Republic, was given an international arrest order by a court that receives international support. According to a spokesman, the warrant relates to violations of human rights that Bozizé committed between 2009 and 2013.

The Special Criminal Court was founded in Bangui, the nation’s capital, to handle cases including war crimes and abuses of human rights resulting from coups and other violent incidents that have occurred in the country since 2003.
The warrant was announced by the court, which was founded in 2015.

The warrant listed offenses that Bozizé oversaw at a military training center and a civilian jail, including killing and torturing of inmates.

Bozizé is presently living in exile in Guinea-Bissau, although local restrictions make extradition difficult. Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embaló stated that extradition is not permitted by national law and that he had not received any request from Bangui on the arrest warrant.

Ibrahim Nour, whose father was a victim of the horrors of the Bossembélé jail, celebrated the warrant as a step towards justice despite the extradition obstacles.

Human Rights Watch has pointed out that the court’s establishment has been essential to victims’ quest for justice.

Expert in international criminal law Patryk Labuda stressed the importance of Tuesday’s warrant in demonstrating the court’s resolve to pursue prosecutions of misconduct sponsored by the state.

Bozizé, who was overthrown by Seleka rebels in 2013 after ascending to power in a coup in 2003, has been subject to UN and U.S. sanctions for inciting violence. Thousands of people have died and millions have been displaced in the civil war that followed his removal, and fighting continues even after the UN reached a peace agreement in 2019.

In order to secure justice for the victims, Audrey Yamalé, speaking on behalf of the Association of Victims of the 2013 Crisis, applauded the warrant but encouraged Guinea Bissau to assist in Bozizé’s extradition.