The UN-backed Special Criminal Court (SCC) in the Central African Republic (CAR) begins the trial in absentia of former president François Bozizé on Tuesday.
Bozizé is charged with crimes against humanity, including murder, enforced disappearance, torture, and rape, allegedly committed between 2009 and 2013.
Bozizé, 79, seized power in a 2003 coup and was overthrown in 2013 by the Seleka rebel coalition.
He has been living in exile in Guinea-Bissau since March 2023.
Three of his former senior military officers—Eugene Barret Ngaikosset, Vianney Semndiro, and Firmin Junior Danboy—are in pre-trial detention in CAR.
The SCC is a hybrid court based in Bangui, with Central African and foreign judges.
In February 2024, the SCC issued an international arrest warrant for Bozizé, linking him to abuses by his Presidential Guard in Bossembele.
The court concluded there was "serious and consistent evidence" of Bozizé’s criminal liability as a hierarchical superior.
Bozizé’s overthrow in 2013 triggered a civil war, with his Christian-dominated anti-Balaka militias accused of war crimes.
He later led the Coalition of Patriots for Change, which was countered by Russian Wagner Group forces supporting the government.
Bozizé was sentenced in absentia in September 2022 to forced labor for life for conspiracy, rebellion, and murder.
The SCC investigates war crimes in CAR since 2003, a period marked by civil wars and authoritarian rule.

The trial of François Bozizé underscores the fragile balance between justice and political stability in post-conflict societies. The SCC’s hybrid structure—blending local and international oversight—reflects an attempt to reconcile sovereignty with accountability, a tension common in transitional justice. Yet the trial’s in absentia nature raises questions about its symbolic versus practical impact. Bozizé’s exile and the involvement of foreign actors like Russia’s Wagner Group highlight how CAR’s conflicts are entangled in broader geopolitical currents. The pattern of cyclical violence—coups, militias, and foreign interventions—suggests deeper systemic failures in governance and reconciliation.
The narrative leans on established legal frameworks (crimes against humanity) but risks oversimplifying the complexities of CAR’s conflict. The focus on Bozizé’s individual culpability may obscure the collective responsibility of factions and external backers. The SCC’s mandate, while necessary, operates in a context where impunity has long been the norm. The absence of Bozizé and the prior life sentence for rebellion complicate perceptions of justice as performative rather than restorative.
**Patterns detected: none**
Key questions emerge: How can accountability mechanisms function when key actors remain beyond reach? Does the trial risk reinforcing divisions by targeting one faction while others evade scrutiny? And what role do foreign powers play in shaping—or undermining—justice processes? The case invites reflection on whether legal proceedings alone can break cycles of violence without broader political and social reconciliation.