The International Criminal Court has sentenced a militant from Mali over the destruction of shrines in Timbuktu, in a landmark case that has seen the destruction of cultural sites successfully prosecuted as a war crime by the court.
Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi was found guilty of organising the smashing of the shrines in 2012 after militants captured areas of northern Mali. As the head of the Ansar Dine morality brigade, Mr Al Mahdi called for and directly participated in the destruction of the ancient structures said judge Raul Cano Pangalangan.
Noting that “crimes against property are generally of lesser gravity than crimes against persons,” the judge went on to state the destroyed shrines were “among the most cherished buildings of the city”.
The case is the first such incident of cultural destruction to be successfully prosecuted by the court, though similar cases have been heard in other settings. A United Nations tribunal in the former Yugoslavia has previously handed down war crimes convictions for the destruction of structures in Croatia and Bosnia.
The case of Mr Al Mahdi was referred to The Hague after Mali's government requested ICC intervention after acknowledging it was incapable of handling the case, reports the New York Times.
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