ICC Jails Former Central African Football Chief, Militia Leader for War Crimes

The International Criminal Court (ICC) sentenced Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona, former head of the Central African Republic's football federation and a CAF executive, to 12 years in prison for 28 war crimes and crimes against humanity related to attacks on the Muslim population between 2013 and 2014. His co-accused, Alfred Yekatom, a militia leader and sitting MP under UN sanctions, received a 15-year sentence for 20 charges including orchestrating brutal assaults in Bangui where civilians were killed. Both men were leaders of the anti-Balaka militias that fought against the predominantly Muslim Séléka rebels who seized power in the majority Christian country. The nearly four-year trial involved testimony from over 170 witnesses and nearly 20,000 pieces of evidence, convicting them of murder, torture, and religious persecution, though Ngaïssona was acquitted of rape, and Yekatom cleared of recruiting child soldiers. The prosecution argued that Ngaïssona financed and directed the militias while Yekatom commanded fighters who committed atrocities including throat-slitting and burying civilians alive. Both men denied the charges throughout the proceedings.