African and World cuisine on the menu of ICC detainees

Behind the red brick walls of a Dutch prison, a group of defendants of varied origins finishes enjoying an African-inspired menu, before settling comfortably in front of a television screen to watch a game of the Cup

It's a day like any other in building 4 of the Scheveningen Detention Center, a seaside area overlooking the North Sea, on the outskirts of The Hague, which is waiting for their ancient judgments warlords and presidents, accused of the worst crimes: war crimes and crimes against humanity

"When a new defendant arrives, we have a little conversation together, I explain to him, one he is safe here, and two that he will be treated with respect, "said Paddy Craig, head of the Detention Section.

" But I also tell him that we are waiting in exchange for him to respect us too. of spirit, may s we are after all in a detention center, "adds the former Royal Marine with a chiselled face.

Three weeks ago, former Vice President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Jean-Pierre Bemba, acquitted in appeal by the International Criminal Court, became one of the few guests to leave Scheveningen as a free man, having spent ten years in pre-trial detention.

Overcrowding is not a concern here: only six men are detained all Africans, including former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo. Once finally sentenced, the prisoners will serve their sentence elsewhere.

For the defendants, the day begins at 7 am, when the doors of the cells are unlocked.

Each prisoner is entitled to an individual cell of 15 square meters, equipped with a bed, a toilet, a bowl, a chair and cupboards, as well as a TV, as journalists have noted during a rare visit organized for the press

When they are not preparing for an audience, the inmates walk around the building, chat, play ping-pong or chess in one of the two common rooms, or lift cast iron in a gym. Prisoners also benefit from private rooms for conjugal visits.

– Cooks of the first order –

But to observe them, it is cooking that has become their favorite pastime, as evidenced by the fact that well-filled pantry in kitchens, the list of cooking times displayed on the fridge and the innumerable boxes of sauces, cassava bags or rice packages on the shelves.

"Some of them are The chicken, the garlic and the peanut dishes are the most accommodating, "says Paddy Craig, who is ecstatic about the aroma that occasionally spreads in the corridors, even though tact and diplomacy forbid him to appoint the best leader.

In the promenade courtyard, accessible at certain times of the day, a tennis court is available, but it is less crowded than the neighboring vegetable garden, where the prisoners pamper their crops, in pa particular sunflowers, coriander and spinach.

There is a football field in an adjacent gymnasium. "ICC detainees often face off against their counterparts in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)," said Paddy Craig. This is the only opportunity for the prisoners of the two institutions, locked up on different floors, to meet.

But after the death of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in 2006 and the suicide of Bosnian Croat Slobodan Praljak in December 2017, only two ICTY prisoners remain today: the former Bosnian Serb civilian and military leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, whose team is then supplemented by guards.

The detainees often set up in front of the televisions in the common rooms, before having to return to their cells at 8:30 pm, at which time the doors are locked again, shortly before the fires go out.

"Watch the World Cup football is a very popular activity right now, "says Paddy Craig, although all African teams have now been eliminated from the competition.