CAR jails rebel leader for 15 years

A court in Yamena sentenced Abdoulaye Miskine to 15 years in prison on Wednesday. Miskine was known for leading the rebel militia Central African People's Democratic Front (FDPC) and for his direct role in decades of violence, extrajudicial executions and destabilisation in the border area between Chad and CAR. According to a report by Democrata, the court found Miskine guilty of insurrection, murder, kidnapping, usurpation of property and rape, charges linked to his past as a leader of a militia of Chadian mercenaries created in the early 2000s by then CAR President Ange-Félix Patassé to confront rebel factions and sustain his government. Additionally, the court has imposed the payment of 30m CFA francs (about €45 000) to each of the victims' families. In the same ruling, Adum Rajis, a former rebel military leader, as well as Ringo Djouma, a member of the FDPC leadership, and Abdelaziz Gros, a collaborator integrated into the militia's command structure, were sentenced to 10 years in prison. Defence lawyer Goilar Ndjedubum said they would appeal to the Supreme Court. The FDPC was part of the rebel factions that joined the Séléka coalition at the end of 2012 with the aim of overthrowing President François Bozizé, although it distanced itself from the alliance before it carried out the coup d'état in 2013 that plunged CAR into a serious armed conflict.