(Ecofin Agency) - The trial of the ex-head of state of Chad, Hissène Habré, started this 20 July 2015 in Dakar, Senegal. Apart from the opening proceedings which all press will be allowed to cover, only the Senegalese national television Radiodiffusion Télévision Sénégalaise (RTS) has been authorised to record and broadcast the contents of the trial. The announcement of this decision was not at all welcomed by the Chadian journalists present during the press conference held on 14 July by the authorities in charge of adjudicating on Hissène Habré’s case, the Extraordinary African Courts (CAE).

“This decision is a censorship with regards to the history we must relate to the Chadian people. It is not about forcing us to show the images that RTS will select for us. We refuse that. This trial is a historical moment, it is not only about the people who have filed the suit, but the entire population, since we all took part in the war effort. I find it scandalous that a consortium would hijack history in this way”, explained the Chadian director Haroun Mahamat Saleh (pictured), addressing the consortium in charge of communication for the CAE.

An appeal to which the communication manager, Marcel Mendy, did not respond, reports the website Dakaractu. According to the website, RTS journalist Amadou Samba M’bow tried to provide an explanation but rather angered his Chadian counterparts. The latter replied by telling him that he was not one to be giving lessons, as he did not know anything, not about the Hissène Habré trial or the history of Chad.

Hissène Habré is charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture acts which date back to the period when he was head of the Chadian state (1982-1990).