BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) The Central African Republic is set to adopt a new constitution after the country’s high court validated the results of a national referendum.
Maxime Jeoffroy Eli Mokom Gawaka faces charges including murder, extermination, deportation, torture, persecution, enforced disappearance and other inhumane acts. The hearing that started Tuesday is not a trial, but will establish if evidence is strong enough to merit putting him on trial. He was not required to enter a plea.
The Central African Republic has voted in favor of adopting a new constitution. The country's high court announced Monday that it had validated the results of a national referendum proposed by the ruling party. The changes to the 2016 constitution expand executive power by extending presidential terms from five to seven years and doing away with presidential term limits. The president will also appoint more judges to the constitutional court. CAR has been in the grips of violent conflict since 2013, when a bloody power struggle erupted between Christian and Muslim militias. Rebel groups have since combined to oppose the state, which has employed Russian Wagner mercenaries to regain territory and secure the referendum.
Maxime Jeoffroy Eli Mokom Gawaka, a former government minister from the Central African Republic, denied his involvement in war crimes at his pretrial hearing at the ICC.