Editing Jean-Bédel Bokassa (section)

===Trial===
Bokassa's trial began on 15 December 1986, taking place in the Palace of Justice in Bangui. Bokassa hired two French lawyers, [[Francis Szpiner]] and François Gibault, who faced a panel modelled on the French legal system, composed of six jurors and three judges, presided over by High Court Judge Edouard Franck.{{sfn|Knappman|1997|p=439}} The [[Jury trial|trial by jury]] of a former head of state was unprecedented in the history of post-colonial Africa, where former dictators had previously been tried and executed following [[show trial]]s.<ref name="Newsweek 1986 p. 27"/> In another regional innovation, access to the trial was granted to the public; this meant that the courtroom was constantly filled with standing-room-only spectators. There were live French-language broadcasts by Radio Bangui and local television news crews broadcast all over the country, as well as neighbouring French-speaking African countries. The trial was listened to and watched by many in the CAR and in neighbouring countries who had access to a radio or TV set.<ref name="Newsweek 1986 p. 27"/>

Gabriel-Faustin M'Boudou, the Chief Prosecutor of the CAR, called various witnesses to testify against Bokassa. Their testimonies helped to document victims ranging from political enemies to a newborn son of a palace guard commander who had been executed for attempting to kill Bokassa in 1978; a hospital nurse testified that Bokassa had ordered the newborn's death through poisoning.{{sfn|Knappman|1997|p=439}}

Among the witnesses were twenty-seven teenagers and young adults who identified themselves as the only survivors of the 180 children arrested in April 1979. They had been arrested after children threw rocks at Bokassa's passing [[Rolls-Royce Limited|Rolls-Royce]] during protests against the costly school uniforms which they were forced to purchase from a factory (supposedly owned by one of Bokassa's wives). Several of them testified that on their first night in jail, Bokassa visited the prison and screamed at the children for their insolence. He was said to have ordered the prison guards to club the children to death; Bokassa allegedly participated, smashing the skulls of at least five children with his ebony walking stick.{{sfn|Knappman|1997|p=439}}

Throughout the trial, Bokassa denied all the charges against him. He attempted to shift the blame away from himself to wayward members of his former cabinet and the army for any misdeeds that might have occurred during his reign as both president and emperor. Testifying in his own [[defense (legal)|defence]], Bokassa stated: "I'm not a saint. I'm just a man like everyone else." Several times he erupted in rage, once attacking the chief prosecutor M'Boudou: "The aggravating thing about all this is that it's all about Bokassa, Bokassa, Bokassa! I have enough crimes levelled against me without you blaming me for all the murders of the last twenty-one years!"{{sfn|Knappman|1997|p=439}}

One of the most lurid allegations against Bokassa was that of cannibalism. Former President Dacko was called to the witness stand to testify that he had seen photographs of butchered bodies hanging in the cold-storage rooms of Bokassa's palace immediately after the 1979 coup.{{sfn|Knappman|1997|pp=439–440}} Photographs apparently showing a fridge in the palace that contained the bodies of schoolchildren were also published in [[Paris Match]] magazine.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=David |title='Cannibal' dictator Bokassa given posthumous pardon |journal=The Guardian |date=3 December 2010 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/dec/03/jean-bedel-bokassa-posthumous-pardon |access-date=11 June 2023 |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=1 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301025416/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/dec/03/jean-bedel-bokassa-posthumous-pardon |url-status=live }}</ref> When the defence put up a [[reasonable doubt]] during the [[cross-examination]] of Dacko that he could not be positively sure if the photographs he had seen were of dead bodies to be used for consumption, Bokassa's former chef was called to testify that he had cooked human flesh stored in the walk-in freezers and served it to Bokassa on an occasional basis. The prosecution did not examine rumours that Bokassa had served some of the flesh of his victims to visiting foreign dignitaries.{{sfn|Knappman|1997|p=440}}

On 12 June 1987, Bokassa was found guilty of murder in at least twenty cases and sentenced to death. The charge of cannibalism was not taken into account for the final verdict, since the consumption of human remains was classified a [[misdemeanor|misdemeanour]] under CAR law, and upon seizing power from Dacko in 1981, President Kolingba had declared an [[amnesty]] for all misdemeanours committed before the start of his rule.{{sfn|Knappman|1997|pp=439–440}}

An [[appeal]] by Szpiner and Gibault on the grounds that the CAR's constitution allowed a former head of state to be charged only with treason was rejected by the CAR Supreme Court.{{sfn|Knappman|1997|p=440}}