ICC rules jihadist liable for damages
♦ COURT ORDERS INDIVIDUAL, COLLECTIVE AND SYMBOLIC REPARATIONS TO VICTIMS
♦ MAHDI'S CASE WAS THE FIRST TO COME BEFORE ICC AS A CRIME OF CULTURAL DESTRUCTION
War crimes judges said yesterday that a Malian jihadist was liable for 2.7 million euros in personal damages for destroying Timbuktu's fabled shrines in 2012, as they ordered reparations in a landmark ruling.
The International Criminal Court ordered that the victims of the razing of the fabled west African city's historic treasures be paid "individual, collective and symbolic" reparations.
But the judges at The Hague-based tribunal also recognised that Ahmad Al-Faqi Al-Mahdi -- jailed last September for nine years -- was penniless, saying it was now up to the Trust Fund for Victims to decide how the outstanding amount will have to be paid.
The fund was created in 2004 by the ICC's state parties with the aim of addressing harms resulting from genocide, crimes of humanity and war crimes.
It implements any reparations ordered by the court -- including financial payments -- and aids victims. Funding comes from public and private donors as well as court-ordered fines and forfeitures.
The fund now has until February 16 to come up with a plan how to implement yesterday's reparations award.
Judges further ordered the Malian state and the international community be compensated with a symbolic amount of one euro each for damages suffered.
Jihadists used pickaxes and bulldozers against nine mausoleums and the centuries-old door of the Sidi Yahya mosque, part of a golden age of Islam after over-running northern Mali in 2012.
The assault on the Unesco world heritage site triggered global opprobrium, but also led to a legal precedent.
Mahdi's case was the first to come before the Hague-based ICC as a crime of cultural destruction.
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