War crimes trial for tyrant of Chad

[T_i_B]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=454157

Souleymane Guengueng was a lowly government employee when he was picked up by Chad's political police in August 1988 and imprisoned for a crime he did not commit.

Wrongfully accused of working for the opposition fighting to overthrow President Hissène Habré, he was released two and a half years later when the dictator fled into exile. His family had given up hope of seeing him again.

Now the tables have turned, and soon Hissène Habré - darling of the Americans and the French during his bloody eight-year rule - will be facing charges of crimes against humanity and torture. Mr Guengueng and his group, representing 792 victims of the Habré-era atrocities and their surviving relatives, are the accusers.

A Belgian investigating magistrate is expected to formally indict the former Chadian leader in a landmark case which will show African dictators they should no longer assume they can commit human rights abuses with impunity.