Central African Republic?s President Accused of Crimes Against Humanity While Opponent Finds Refuge in Chad

In November 2001, nine members of the indigenous Yakoma tribe filed a compliant with a Belgian investigating magistrate against the President of the Central African Republic, Agne-Felix Patasse. The plaintiffs accused Patasse of crimes against humanity committed in the aftermath of the May 28 attempted coup. Allegedly, the president took revenge for the failed coup against his government by slaying thousands of Yakoma. With this new complaint based on the Belgian War Crimes Act which grants extraterritorial jurisdiction to the Belgian judiciary, voices supporting the introduction of a filter mechanism n order to avoid whimsical or political risky prosecutions grow stronger. On November 2, a warrant for the arrest of Bozize was issued.