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The former head of the Central African Republic (CAR) football federation, Patrice-Edouard Nga\u00efssona, has been found guilty of committing 28 war crimes and crimes against humanity by judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC).<\/p>\n
He was accused, alongside Alfred Yekatom, of co-ordinating attacks against the country’s Muslim population in 2013-14.<\/p>\n
Yekatom was found guilty of 20 charges. The judges gave their verdict after a trial lasting almost four years involving more than 170 witnesses and nearly 20,000 items of evidence.<\/p>\n
Nga\u00efssona was sentenced to 12 years and Yekatom 15 years.<\/p>\n
Violence has gripped the CAR for much of the past decade, but a recent peace deal led to the dissolution of two rebel groups this month.<\/p>\n
CAR was plunged into turmoil in 2013 when predominately Muslim rebels from the S\u00e9l\u00e9ka group seized power in the majority Christian country.<\/p>\n
A band of mostly Christian militias, called the anti-Balaka, rose up to counter S\u00e9l\u00e9ka after then-President Fran\u00e7ois Boziz\u00e9 was ousted.<\/p>\n
Nga\u00efssona and Yekatom were convicted of numerous crimes, including murder, torture and persecuting a religious group.<\/p>\n
The prosecution set out the alleged system of command, saying Nga\u00efssona provided funds and instructions to anti-Balaka groups in 2013 and 2014.<\/p>\n
Yekatom, nicknamed Rambo, was a commander who allegedly led fighters into the capital, Bangui, on 5 December 2013 where civilians were slaughtered.<\/p>\n
The prosecution said the pair’s strategy was to make all Muslims their target, describing them as “enemies of the nation”.<\/p>\n
Yekatom authorised his fighters to attack Muslim civilians, including to slit throats, cut off ears and bury people alive, the prosecution alleged.<\/p>\n
Asked to enter a plea at the start of the trial, both men rejected all the charges.<\/p>\n
Media reports at the time indicates that at least 1,000 people were killed in tit-for-tat clashes in Bangui in December 2013, and half the city’s population fled in that month alone.<\/p>\n
He was the self-declared political co-ordinator of anti-Balaka forces.<\/p>\n
Nga\u00efssona was barred from running for CAR president in 2015 because of his alleged role in the atrocities.<\/p>\n
He is a former head of the CAR’s football federation and briefly served as sports minister before being elected to the executive committee of the Confederation of African Football (Caf) in February 2018.<\/p>\n
His appointment was criticised by several human rights groups.<\/p>\n
“If the allegations were true, I wouldn’t be here today,” he told AFP news agency at the time. “[I don’t] mix politics and sport – everything I’ve done has been for the good of my country.”<\/p>\n
French authorities arrested him in December 2018 and he was transferred to the ICC in January 2019.<\/p>\n
Yekatom was elected as an MP in 2016, despite being subject to UN sanctions.<\/p>\n
He was arrested in October 2018 after he fired a gun in parliament, then ran away, after a row with a fellow MP.<\/p>\n
His extradition to the ICC was the first from CAR.<\/p>\n
The International Federation for Human Rights (known by its French acronym FIDH) said it signalled the authorities there were committed to fighting impunity.<\/p>\n