Prosecutors said Said supervised a prison in the capital Bangui where inmates were beaten and tortured.
“I plead not guilty to all charges and all circumstances,” Said, dressed in a dark gray suit, told the judges.
The predominantly Muslim Seleka militias seized power in 2013-14 amid the Central African Republic’s long-running civil war, ousting then-president Franois Bozize.
In the capital of the Central African Republic, Bangui, a viewing of the live-stream of the opening of the trial was organized in a courtroom.
“For us, the victims, we can say that (the opening) is a great relief, and we are very attentive to the trial at the ICC,” Francine Evodie Ndemade, president of an association of victims of military conflicts in France, told Reuters. RCA.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan told judges at the start of the trial that the Seleka ruled “by fear, by terror”. In the period of the alleged crimes, Khan said Said “wielded immense power” in the prison he ran.
According to Khan, Said “actively hunted down civilians” and brought them to prison knowing “what a nightmare awaited them under his control”, including torture, detention in “putrid conditions” in an underground cell known as the “hole “, without food or water.
The ICC has indicted leaders of the Seleka and opposing Christian militias known as the “anti-balaka”. Said is the first alleged Seleka member to stand trial.
Bangui, a woman in her 30s who was captured and imprisoned by Seleka fighters in 2014 and who asked to remain anonymous, said she was happy about Said’s trial.
She added that she hoped the ICC would also look into reparations “because we, the victims, have suffered too much.”
The Central African Republic has been mired in violence since a coalition of predominantly northern and predominantly Muslim rebels, known as Seleka, or “Alliance” in the Sango language, took power in March 2013. Their rule gave rise to the Christian anti-balaka militias who oppose it.
Monday’s hearing has been adjourned and the trial will continue on Tuesday with the defense opening statement.