ICC drops charges against Central African Republic militia leader

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (CN) — Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court announced on Thursday they were withdrawing charges against a former militia leader from the Central African Republic charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity atrocities. 

Maxime Jeoffroy Eli Mokom Gawaka faced 20 counts of murder, rape, pillaging and torture but chief prosecutor Karim Khan said there was insufficient evidence to proceed to trial. 

“There is no reasonable prospect for a conviction at trial,” The Hague court’s top prosecutor said in a statement. The British lawyer blamed the availability of witnesses and a lack of evidence to continue with the proceedings. 

Mokom was accused of playing a pivotal role in the anti-Balaka, a loose confederation of militia groups that formed in response to an outbreak of sectarian violence in the Central African Republic in late 2012. Muslim militia groups known as the Seleka ousted President François Bozizé in 2013 and took control of the capital. Large parts of the country still remain under the control of various armed groups. 

The defense team for the 44-year-old claimed the prosecution had long known about evidence proving Mokom’s innocence. “The case file is replete with exculpatory materials,” Mokom’s lawyer Philippe Larochelle, told judges during a hearing in August. 

“It was a total surprise,” Larochelle said in an interview. His client has been released from the court’s detention facility in Scheveningen but remains at a “ICC designated location” while the details of his transfer can be arranged, according to the court. 

Khan acknowledged that victims and their families were likely to be disappointed by the move.  “ I hope many will understand my legal and ethical responsibilities to be guided by the law and the evidence,” he said in a statement. 

It is only the third time prosecutors at the court have withdrawn charges against a defendant. In 2013 and 2015, the previous chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda dropped cases against two top Kenyan officials charged with orchestrating post-election violence. An investigation into the country’s former present Kenyatta Uhuru and one of his senior ministers, Francis Muthaura, was plagued by claims of witness tampering. 

The trial of two other former anti-Balaka leaders, Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona and Alfred Yekatom, that began in 2021, is still ongoing. Both men have pleaded not guilty. 

Last year, the trial of the first Seleka leader began when Mahamat Said Abdel Kani pleaded not guilty to seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. 

More than 5,000 people have died in the conflict in the Central African Republic, and more than 1.1 million people in a country of only 5 million have become displaced. The ICC first opened an investigation into the conflict in 2014.

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