Chad
February 2010
Hissène Habré's 1982-1990 rule over the
former French colony of Chad was marked by numerous and credible
allegations of systematic torture and crimes against humanity. Habré
claims that he was not aware of violations committed by the Documentation
and Security Directorate (DDS), the state security force that pursued
political opponents and operated notorious prisons during his regime.
In January 2010, the Human Rights Data Analysis Group
(HRDAG) released a new study showing that Habré was well
informed of the hundreds of deaths that occurred in prisons operated
by the DDS. The HRDAG report, State
Coordinated Violence in Chad under Hissène Habré,
A Statistical Analysis of Reported Prison Mortality in Chad's DDS Prisons and Command Responsibility of Hissène Habré, 1982-1990,
is based on thousands of documents generated by the DDS. The analysis
contained in the report could be critical in the long delayed prosecution
of Habré who has been accused of killing and systematically
torturing thousands of political opponents from 1982 to 1990.
Reed Brody of Human Rights Watch (HRW) discovers
documents from Hissène Habré's political police,
the Documentation and Security Directorate (DDS), at its abandoned
headquarters inN'Djamena, Chad.
Human Rights Watch discovered a cache of DDS files
by chance in 2001 at the abandoned DDS headquarters in N’Djamena,
the Chadian capital. HRDAG has worked with Human Rights Watch since
2002 to analyze thousands of these records. The documents contain
detailed accounts of the interrogations, movements, and deaths of
prisoners, as well as information on the internal functioning of
the DDS. In order to facilitate rigorous qualitative and quantitative
analysis of this important evidence, HRDAG developed a Document
Mapper database that cross-references individuals and institutions
cited in the DDS documents.
The analysis of DDS document flow included more than
2,700 administrative records which together illustrate a clear communication
and command link between Habré and his state security force.
A total of 12,321 individual victims were mentioned in the recovered
documents including 1,208 individuals who died in detention.
The findings confirm earlier qualitative accounts of
prisoner conditions and high mortality within DDS prisons. Analysis
of DDS records, including Situation Journals and death certificates,
reveal that the mortality rate within the DDS prisons varied from
30 per 1,000 to 87 per 1,000 prisoners. This rate is substantially
higher than the overall death rate of Chad in the 1970’s and
1990’s which was less than 25 per 1,000.
HRDAG's analysis of the recovered documents was framed
around the international legal doctrine of Command Responsibility.
This doctrine, established by the Hague Conventions and progressively
refined in criminal trials and international tribunals, sets out
detailed criteria for the assessment of the individual responsibility
of political and military leaders. Under this doctrine, superiors
can incur criminal liability for acts committed by their subordinates
if they fail to prevent or punish subordinates for their unlawful
actions.
The quantitative analysis completed by HRDAG assesses
the retrieved DDS documents against the doctrine’s main criteria.
These criteria include the existence of a superior-subordinate relationship,
the superior’s knowledge that the subordinate was about to
commit a crime or had committed a crime, and the superior’s
failure to act. The HRDAG analysis shows that Habré received
1,265 direct communications from the DDS about the status of 898
detainees. The analysis presents evidence that:
- Large-scale human rights violations were carried out inside
the DDS prisons.
- Both Habré and the Director of the DDS were well informed
of DDS operations.
- There was a superior-subordinate relationship between Habré
and the DDS senior leadership.
Habré now lives in exile in Senegal. The HRDAG
report was submitted in 2008 to a Senegalese prosecutor. Senegal
has said that it will prosecute Habré when it receives international
funding for the costs of the trial. The European Union, Belgium,
France, the Netherlands and Switzerland have agreed to help finance
the trial.
Earlier HRDAG Analysis in the Case Against Habré
Despite Habré’s denial of responsibility,
prosecutors have been attempting to try the former Chadian dictator
for a decade. The release of the 2010 HRDAG report coincides with
the 10th anniversary of the first indictment against Habré
on February 3, 2000 when he was indicted by a Senegalese judge for
crimes against humanity.
Former Chadian president Hissène Habré leaves
the courthouse in Dakar after being indicted by Judge Demba Kandji
on February 3, 2000. (Photo – Courtesy of Doudou Sall)
The charges brought against Habré in 2000 were
thrown out on a technicality. But Habré’s alleged victims,
Human Rights Watch and a coalition of human rights groups continued
to press the case against the former dictator. Jacqueline Moudeina,
president of the Chadian Association for the Promotion and Defense
of Human Rights, who is also a lawyer for the victims of the Habré
regime, asserted that Habré “directed and controlled
the police force which tortured those who opposed him or those who
simply belonged to the wrong ethnic group.”
In November 2003, HRDAG team members Miguel Cruz, Kristen
Cibelli, and Jana Dudukovic conducted a preliminary analysis of
available documents from the DDS the Chadian Association of Victims
of Political Repression and Crime (AVCRP). The report, entitled
Preliminary
Statistical Analysis of AVCRP & DDS Documents - A report to
Human Rights Watch about Chad under the government of Hissène
Habré, found that detainees within the DDS prisons were
at least 16 times more likely to die than the general public. This
mortality analysis drew on both the DDS's own administrative records
and victim-based testimonies. The HRDAG report was given to the
Belgian judge to inform his preparation of a second indictment against
Habré.
In early July 2005, HRDAG team members Romesh Silva
and Scott Weikart contributed statistical analysis to a second Human
Rights Watch Report entitled Chad:
The Victims of Hissène Habré Still Awaiting Justice.
In this report, HRDAG presented descriptive statistical analysis
on the pattern of detention, and deaths in detention which had been
documented in official records of the DDS. On September 27, 2005
a Belgian judge issued an international arrest warrant charging
Hissène Habré with atrocities during his 1982-1990
regime.
This analysis found that:
- A total of 12,321 different victims were mentioned in the recovered
administrative documents from the DDS. These victims were mentioned
39,981 times in 1,941 different documents.
- 93.5% (37,371/39,981) of the transcribed victim names appeared
in documents which originated from the DDS itself.
- In the DDS documents retrieved by HRW, Hissène Habré
received 1,265 direct communications from the DDS about the status
of 898 detainees. 33.3% (296/898) of these victims were mentioned
in multiple separate communications to Habré.
HRDAG's database and statistical work also contributed to the presentation
of evidence against 41 of the highest-ranking former agents of the
DDS. In response to this report, the Prime-Minister of Chad declared
in August 2005 that all current officials who served as DDS agents
under Habré would be removed from their official duties.
The Chadian government also announced its intentions to provide
compensation and erect a monument to honor the memory of the victims
of political repression under Habré's dictatorship.
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