The legality of the Extraordinary African Chambers on the light of the international criminal tribunals: The case of Hussein Habre

Background/Objectives: 30th of May 2016, The Extraordinary African Chambers (EAC) in its verdict sentenced the Former President of the Republic of Chad Mr. Hussein Habre to life imprisonment. Mr. Hussein Habre was charged for committing international crimes during his Presidency from 1982 to 1990. Methods: Thus, to achieve the objectives of the work have been used analysis, comparative, historic and deduction method of research. The analyzed and comparative documents are the sources of the already created international criminal courts and other court decisions to justify the legality of the EAC. The attention is drawn to the Decisions of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Court of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and other national courts such Senegal and Belgium. Findings: According to our analysis all the International Criminal Tribunals (ICT) have been created by the United Nations as a legal entity through the Security Council Decisions .Both states and legal entities with general competences entitled to create such court in terms of International Law. In this point of view, the creation of the EAC by the African Union as a legal entity with general competences in Africa is founded and no contrary to the current International Law .On other hand, the nature of the crimes committed by the accused and his status as former President with an asylum in another country has required the necessity of the creation of the EAC. The result of analytic and comparative studies of the research confirms the legality of the EAC as attested by the Decision of the Court of ECOWAS. Thus, the article through the analytic, comparative and historic methods of study shows that the EAC as a hybrid International Criminal Tribunal is legal in terms of theory and practices of current International Law. Applications/improvements: The creation of the EAC in Africa can serve an example to avoid impunity for international crimes. This approach may improve the practice of the International Criminal law.