The Obligation to Prosecute or Extradite (Belgium v. Senegal)

• Author: Trey Proffitt
• Pages: 315-324

The Obligation to Prosecute or Extradite

(Belgium v. Senegal)

T

REY

P

ROFFITT

*

I. Introduction and Background

Hissene Habre ruled as the dictator of Chad from 1982-1990, taking

power in 1982 with the support of the United States and France.

1

Throughout his reign, Habre was alleged to have committed a number of

atrocities: including torture, war crimes, summary executions, kidnapping,

and murder, among other charges.

2

Specifically, Chad committed ethnic

cleansing while Habre was in power.

3

Additionally, the Chadian

government was accused of systematic torture of detainees, for being

responsible for over 40,000 deaths, and committing another 12,321 human

rights violations.

4

These human rights violations by Habre’s regime

included “subjecting detainees to forced swallowing of water, spraying of gas

into the nose and mouth, forced ingestion of exhaust pipe fumes, burns,

prolonged ‘cohabitation with corpses . . . [in] an advanced stage of

decomposition’, food and water deprivation, flogging and electric shocks.”

5

A large number of these atrocities were performed by the Documentation

and Security Directorate, which was a state security force that Habre had

direct supervision over.

6

In 1990, Habre was overthrown by Idriss Deby

Itno as the ruler of Chad and fled the country to Senegal.

7

Habre lived as a

“political asylee” in Senegal after being overthrown in Chad.

8

* Trey Proffitt is a candidate for Juris Doctor, class of 2022, at SMU Dedman School of

Law. He grew up in Arlington, Texas before attending Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene,

Texas. While at Hardin-Simmons, Trey played football and earned a degree in Political

Science. Trey is a member of the International Law Review and currently serves as a Staff

Editor.

1. Q&A: The Case of Hissene Habre Before the Extraordinary Chambers in Senegal,

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W

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(

May 3, 2016, 6:00 AM), https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/05/03/qa-case-hissene-

habre-extraordinary-african-chambers-senegal [https://perma.cc/J8T8-KATT] [hereinafter

Q&A].

2. Id.

3. Reed Brody, Bringing a Dictator to Justice, 13

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209, 209 (2015).

4. Id. at 209-10.

5. Sangeeta Shah, Questions Relating to the Obligation to Prosecute or Extradite (Belgium v.

Senegal), 13

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351, 351 (2013).

6. Trent Buatte, The Time of Human Justice & The Time of Human Beings: Belgium v. Senegal &

Temporal Restraints on the Duty to Prosecute, 45

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349, 354 (2013).

7. Brody, supra note 3, at 209.

8. Cindy Galway Buys, Introductory Note to the International Court of Justice: Obligation to

Prosecute or Extradite, 51

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ATERIALS

706, 706 (2012).

THE INTERNATIONAL LAWYER

A TRIANNUAL PUBLICATION OF THE ABA/SECTION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

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