- Patrice Edouard Ngaissona of the Central African Republic has been arrested in France over war crimes allegedly committed in his country
- Ngaissona, who is the Central African Republic's football federation chief, allegedly committed war crimes and crimes against humanity
- The crimes included murder, extermination, deportation, persecution, torture, attacking civilians and recruiting child soldiers
Central African Republic's football federation chief, Patrice Edouard Ngaissona, has been arrested in France over war crimes allegedly committed in his country.
According to prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC), Ngaissona was the most senior leader and "national general coordinator'' of the anti-Balaka militia, VOA reports.
Legit.ng gathers the ICC stated that Ngaissona was suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder, extermination, deportation, persecution, torture, attacking civilians and recruiting child soldiers.
READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda
Ngaissona's arrest was commended by Amnesty International (AI), which named the former and 19 others as possible war crimes suspects in 2014. AI said the arrest was a "major step forward in the fight against impunity in the Central African Republic.''
Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that Mohammed Jabateh, a Delaware County man convicted of hiding his past as the murderous Liberian warlord “Jungle Jabbah” was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison on Thursday, April 19.
The historic punishment was considered by prosecutors as one of the longest ever given to an accused war criminal convicted of immigration fraud in the United States.
At his trial last year in Philadelphia, Jabateh, became the first person found guilty of crimes connected to the numerous documented atrocities during Liberia’s first protracted civil war, which ravaged the West African nation between 1989 and 1997.
With the Thursday sentence, Jabateh reportedly became the first person to be prosecuted in connection with the conflict that left more than 250,000 dead and a generation of survivors both in Liberia and Philadelphia’s sizable expat community clamouring for justice.
Although Jabateh’s sentence was not specifically tied to any of the dozens of acts of murder, rape, enslavement, and cannibalism that prosecutors attributed to him, the US District Judge Paul S. Diamond said those deeds factored heavily into his decision to dramatically depart from the traditional federal sentencing guidelines for perjury and immigration fraud, the charges on which Jabateh was convicted in 2017.
PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigeria’s #1 news app
Delivering the sentence, Diamond described the prison term suggested by those guidelines – 15 to 21 months – as not only “unreasonable but outrageously offensive” in light of Jabateh’s wartime conduct.
Diamond, however, cautioned: “I want to be clear. I am departing not based on the horror of the atrocities the defendant committed abroad. Rather, I am departing based on the egregiousness of his lies … and their effect on our asylum laws and immigration system.”
NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have updated to serve you better
Evans the kidnapper lands in Kirikiri prison after first appearance in court - on Legit.ng TV
Source: Legit.ng
from Nigeria News today & Breaking Naija news ▷ Read on LEGIT.NG 24/7 https://ift.tt/2ErVfMl
via EDUPEDIA24/7
Comments
Post a Comment