ICC awards $8.4 million in reparations to victims of convicted former police chief in Mali

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court on Tuesday ordered an al-Qaida-linked extremist leader to pay 7.2 million euros ($8.4 million) in reparations for atrocities he oversaw as head of the Islamic police in the historic desert city of Timbuktu in the west African country of Mali.

Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud was convicted of torture, religious persecution and other inhumane acts in 2024 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Judges found he was a “key figure” in a reign of terror after Islamic extremist rebels overran Timbuktu in 2012.

“Mr. Al Hassan, as the person found responsible for the crimes, which caused the harm to the victims, is the person financially liable for the cost of repairing the harm,” Presiding Judge Kimberly Prost said, addressing the courtroom in the Dutch city of The Hague.

While the court has declared Al Hassan liable, it won't be able to collect the money from the 49-year old, who was declared indigent and was represented by a court-funded lawyer during his trial.

Instead, reparations for the more than 65,000 victims will be paid by the Trust Fund for Victims, set up by the court’s member states to distribute the funds.

We are “one of the many innovations of the Rome Statute,” the fund’s executive director Deborah Ruiz Verduzco, told The Associated Press.

Under the court’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, the fund “responds to the harm resulting from the crimes under the jurisdiction.”

The 24 staff members in Ruiz Verduzco’s office are tasked with assisting victims and their families, establishing programs in communities destroyed by violence and drumming up financial support to fulfil its mandate.

In its two decades of operation, the trust fund has only received money from perpetrators in one case.

“Substantial fundraising will need to take place,” Judge Prost said on Tuesday.

The bulk of the money will come from the court’s member states, though the fund also accepts private donations. In March, Germany gave 40,000 euros ($46,000) to the fund. Sweden and the Netherlands are the two biggest supporters.

Judges guide how the reparations money will be allocated, though they solicit input from the victims themselves through their lawyers and the trust fund.

In the Al Hassan case, the reparations will be used for “socio-economic support, educational programs or trainings, and psychological support,” according to the decision. Projects should target women and girls in particular, who suffered disproportionately under the extremists groups.

Communities in Mali have already seen some restitution. Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi pleaded guilty and was convicted in 2016 for destroying historic mausoleums in Timbuktu. In 2021, the trust fund began a project to repair ruined buildings.

Mali, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, has for over a decade battled an insurgency fought by armed groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russia’s mercenary units for security assistance instead.

Tuesday's decisions comes days after an alliance of al-Qaida-linked militants and separatists carried out the largest coordinated attack in Mali in over a decade.