ICC sentences Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz to 10 years over Mali war crimes
Al Jazeera
Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz was convicted in June of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the 2012-13 period when Ansar al-Din ruled Timbuktu.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has sentenced a key member of a Malian armed group to 10 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed more than a decade ago in the city of Timbuktu.
Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz was convicted in June on charges including torture, rape and sexual slavery, as well as destroying religious and historic buildings, while serving as police chief after the al-Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Din group seized control of Timbuktu in 2012 for nearly a year.
Presiding Judge Kimberly Prost ruled on Wednesday that the 47-year-old contributed to the Ansar al-Dine rule, whose actions had a “traumatic effect on the population of Timbuktu”.
The people “lived in an atmosphere of fear, violence, oppression, [and] humiliation” and that period “remains present in the minds of victims in a deep-seated trauma”, she said.
The sentence “is proportionate to the gravity of the crimes and the individual circumstances and culpability of Mr Al Hassan”, she added.
