Samenvatting
From July 20th 2015, the former Chadian dictator, Hissène Habré, will stand in the dock on charges of crimes against humanity, torture and war crimes before the Extraordinary African Chambers (EAC) in the Senegalese court system. His trial will be Africa’s first to proceed to trial under the guise of ‘universal jurisdiction’ – the principle that international crimes have no borders. Its decisive start signals a judicial rendezvous with the ghosts of Chad’s brutal past and will bring to a close a protracted legal drama, meandering through a myriad of jurisdictions. Next to being a catalysing forum for witness testimony, the Habré trial will above all be a litmus test for ‘Pan-African’ justice.