On 9 October the Paris Court of Appeal confirmed that the former inspector general of the Congolese armed forces was under investigation for crimes against humanity. The application for it to be set aside made by the defence referred to Dabira’s acquittal in Brazzaville in 2005, which invoked the legal principle in accordance with which one cannot be tried twice for the same offence. The application was rejected by the Court.
The Brazzaville Beach case has been ongoing in France since 2001 following the complaint submitted by the FIDH and its partners [1], the aim of which is to establish individual criminal responsibility in the disappearance of more than 350 people in Brazzaville in May 1999.
The FIDH and its partners [1], along with almost 80 survivors or members of families of victims participating as complainants, are demanding the truth and justice for the hundreds who disappeared.
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For more details of these events and the past and current judicial procedures, see the case summary drawn up by the FIDH.