ARTICLE TEXT

On 23 September 2026, Trial Chamber VI of the International Criminal Court found Mahamat Said Abdel Kani guilty of four counts of crimes against humanity. Said is a former commander of the Seleka coalition in the Central African Republic (CAR). The chamber was presided over by Judge Miatta Maria Samba, sitting with Judge María del Socorro Flores Liera and Judge Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godínez. It acquitted Said of all three war crimes charges. This is the first time the ICC has convicted a Seleka figure. The reason for the split verdict is also one of the clearest lessons in years on how the two categories of international crime differ.

The Background

Seleka was a mainly Muslim rebel coalition. In March 2013 it captured Bangui, the capital, and forced out President François Bozizé. Said then ran the Central Office for the Repression of Banditry (OCRB), a police facility in the city. The prosecution said that between 12 April and 30 August 2013, people suspected of supporting Bozizé were held and tortured there. Witnesses spoke of crowded cells marked with bullet holes and blood, and of detainees being whipped. Some prisoners were kept in a windowless room underneath Said’s own office.

The ICC issued a sealed arrest warrant in January 2019. The CAR authorities handed Said over to the Court in January 2021, and his trial began in September 2022. Across 130 hearing days, the chamber heard 58 prosecution witnesses and 3 defence witnesses and admitted 3,863 items of evidence. Thirty-two victims took part through their legal representatives.

The Verdict

Said was convicted of four crimes against humanity: imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty, torture, persecution, and other inhumane acts. He was acquitted of torture, cruel treatment and outrages upon personal dignity charged as war crimes. Human Rights Watch reports that a majority of the chamber found the armed conflict had ended when Bozizé was removed in March 2013. So the non-international armed conflict that war crimes require had not been proved for the period covered by the charges. Human Rights Watch also says some of the individual incidents charged as crimes against humanity were not proved to the criminal standard.

Why the Charges Split

Article 7 of the Rome Statute defines crimes against humanity as certain acts committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population, with knowledge of that attack. It requires no link to an armed conflict. War crimes under Article 8 are different: they can only be committed in the context of an armed conflict and in association with it. Once a rebel movement has taken power and begun to govern, whether the fighting has actually stopped becomes the deciding question. Here, the same acts in the same cells counted as crimes against humanity but not as war crimes. For students of international criminal law, the case shows that classifying the conflict is a threshold question that the prosecution must prove, not a formality.

Reactions

Marius Olivier Trésor Poussinga, a survivor of torture at the OCRB, said he could now “sleep easier because the court has acknowledged my suffering.” CAR’s Justice Minister, Arnaud Djoubaye Abazène, promised that no victim would be left behind. Lewis Mudge of Human Rights Watch called the judgment a significant milestone. He also warned that serious gaps in accountability remain. Other Seleka leaders, including Noureddine Adam, whose ICC arrest warrant was unsealed in 2022, are still at large.

What Comes Next

Human Rights Watch reports that a sentencing hearing is expected in November 2026. Under Article 77 of the Rome Statute, the chamber can impose up to 30 years’ imprisonment, or life imprisonment where the extreme gravity of the crime justifies it. Either party may appeal, and reparations proceedings for victims will follow. The judgment follows the July 2025 convictions of the anti-balaka leaders Alfred Yekatom and Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona. Crimes committed by both sides of the 2013 conflict have now been answered for in The Hague. The verdict also comes at a difficult time for the Court. On 21 September, press reports said Washington was preparing wider sanctions against the institution.

Why It Matters for Bangladesh

Readers in Bangladesh have particular reason to follow this reasoning. The ICC’s investigation into the situation in Bangladesh/Myanmar concerns the deportation and persecution of the Rohingya. Those are also crimes against humanity under Article 7, and they need no armed-conflict link. The Court has jurisdiction there because Bangladesh is a State Party and part of the alleged conduct, the forced crossing of the border, was completed on Bangladeshi territory. The Said judgment shows that the Court will convict for crimes against humanity even when a war crimes case fails. It also shows how carefully the judges examine the contextual elements of each crime.

Sources

1. Human Rights Watch, “Central African Republic: ICC Verdict in Seleka Commander Case” (23 September 2026): https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/09/23/central-african-republic-icc-verdict-in-seleka-commander-case
2. ABC News / Associated Press, ICC convicts former Central African Republic militia commander: https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/icc-convicts-former-central-african-republic-militia-commander-136678540
3. Mirage News (reproducing the ICC press release): https://www.miragenews.com/said-abdel-kani-guilty-of-central-african-war-1748974/
4. Al Jazeera, Trump administration readies sweeping sanctions against ICC (21 September 2026): https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/21/trump-administration-readies-sweeping-sanctions-against-icc-reports-say