1990

On December 1, Hissène Habré is overthrown by Idriss Deby and eventually finds refuge in Senegal.  
 
 
1991  

The Chadian Association of Victims of Political Repression and Crime (AVCRP) is created to pursue national or international judicial proceedings against the perpetrators of crimes and repression under Habré and to demand the compensation of victims.  
 
 
1992

A Truth Commission established by the Chadian Minister of Justice accuses the Habré regime of 40,000 political assassinations as well as systematic torture. The Commission calls for the prosecution of Hissène Habré and his accomplices and for moral and symbolic reparations to his victims.  
 
 
1999  

In the wake of the Pinochet case, the Chadian Association for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (ATPDH) asks Human Rights Watch's assistance in helping Habré's victims bring him to justice. Researchers from Human Rights Watch and the Dakar-based African Assembly for the Defense of Human Rights (RADDHO) carry out two missions to Chad to prepare the case.  
 
 
2000  

On January 26, seven Chadian victims and the AVCRP file a criminal complaint in Dakar, Senegal, accusing Habré of torture, barbarous acts and crimes against humanity.  
 
On February 3, Senegalese judge Demba Kandji indicts Hissène Habré as an accomplice to torture, barbarous acts and crimes against humanity, placing him under house arrest.  
 
On February 18, Hissène Habré's lawyers file a motion with the three-judge Indicting Chamber of the Appeals Court (Chambre d'Accusation) to dismiss the case.  
 
On June 30, the Superior Council of the Magistracy (Conseil Supérieur de la Magistrature) transfers Judge Kandji, removing him from the Habré investigation. At this same meeting the president of the Appeals Court is promoted.  
 
On July 4, the Appeals Court quashes the indictment, ruling that Senegalese courts have no competence to pursue the charges because the crimes were not committed in Senegal. The decision and the circumstances are strongly criticized by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers as well as the Special Rapporteur on Torture. The victims appeal this decision to the Cour de Cassation, Senegal's highest court.  
 
Back in Chad, on October 26, seventeen Chadian victims lodge criminal complaints for torture, murder, and "disappearance" against former agents of Habré's Directorate of Documentation and Security (DDS).  
 
On November 30, three Chadian victims, living in Belgium, quietly file criminal charges in Brussels against Habré under that country's "universal jurisdiction" law. Several other victims later join the case.  
 
2001  

On March 20, Senegal's Cour de Cassation rules that Habré cannot stand trial because his alleged crimes were not committed in Senegal. Habré's victims announce that they will seek his extradition to Belgium.  
 
On April 7, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade asks Hissène Habré to leave Senegal.  
 
On April 18, victims bring a complaint against Senegal to the United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) for violation of the United Nations Convention against Torture.  
 
On April 23, the CAT issues an interim ruling, calling on Senegal not to allow Hissène Habré to leave the country.  
 
In May, Human Rights Watch discovers the abandoned files of Habré's dreaded political police force, the DDS.  
 
On June 11, Jacqueline Moudeïna, the lawyer representing Chadian victims in the cases filed in Chad, is injured by a grenade during a peaceful demonstration in N'Djaména by security forces led by a Habré-era police chief named as a defendant in one of the cases.  
 
On September 27, President Wade, in an interview with the Swiss newspaper Le Temps, says that he has agreed to hold Habré in Senegal pending an extradition request.  
 
 
2002  

From February 26 to March 7, Investigating Judge Daniel Fransen of the Brussels district court visits Chad together with a Belgian state prosecutor and four policemen.  
 
On June 26, a Belgian Court of Appeals, in a case brought against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, rules that the Belgian universal jurisdiction law cannot be invoked unless the accused is present on Belgian soil. The case against Hissène Habré is effectively frozen.  
 
On October 7, the Chadian Minister of Justice writes to Judge Fransen to say that "Mr. Hissène Habré can not claim to enjoy any form of immunity from the Chadian authorities."  
 
 
2003  

On February 12, the Belgian Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation) rules in the Sharon case that the "universal jurisdiction" law does not require the accused's presence in Belgium. However the Belgian Parliament is considering amendments to that law.  
 
On April 23, the Belgian Parliament votes for the first time to restrict Belgium's "universal jurisdiction" law, allowing only cases which cannot be filed elsewhere.  
 
On June 5, the Belgian Minister of Justice writes that under the revised law, the Habré case will be allowed to continue because three plaintiffs have Belgian nationality and because neither Senegal nor Chad is in a position to take the case.  
 
In August, the Belgian Parliament repeals the universal jurisdiction law under U.S. pressure, after cases are filed against U.S. officials. However a transitory clause allows the Habré case to go forward. After 14 months, Judge Fransen takes up the investigation again.  
 
 
2004  

On January 31, the eve of the fourth anniversary of Hissène Habré's indictment in Senegal, the AVCRP organizes a rally calling for reparations for his victims.  
 
 
2005  
 
On July 12, a Human Rights Watch reveals that dozens of Hissène Habré's henchmen still hold positions of power in Chad.  
 
On August 12, six of Hissène Habré 's accomplices are removed from state security jobs in Chad.  
 
On August 12, the Chadian government write to Human Rights Watch to say that it will remove all the accomplices of Hissène Habré from government jobs, quickly consider a draft law to compensate Habré's victims and would construct a monument to honor the memory of the victims as soon as it had the funds to do so.  
 
On September 19, Judge Fransen's four-year investigation results in an international arrest warrant for Hissène Habré, charging him with genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture, and serious violations of international humanitarian law. The same day, Belgium makes an extradition request to Senegal.  
 
Acting pursuant to the extradition request, the Senegalese authorities arrest Hissène Habré on November 15 and place him in custody.  
 
On November 24, the state prosecutor (Ministère Public) recommends to the Indicting Chamber of the Court of Appeals of Dakar that it declare itself without jurisdiction to rule on the extradition request.  
 
On November 25, the Indicting Chamber of the Court of Appeals of Dakar rules that it had no jurisdiction to rule on the extradition request. Hissène Habré is released.  
 
On November 26 , the interior minister of Senegal issues an order placing Hissène Habré "at the disposition of the President of the African Union," and suggests that after forty-eight hours Hissène Habré will be expelled to Nigeria.  
 
On November 27, the foreign minister of Senegal, Cheikh Tidiane Gadio, states that Hissène Habré will remain in Senegal pending a decision by the African Union summit on "the jurisdiction which is competent to try this matter."  
 
 
2006  
 
On January 24, the African Union meeting in Khartoum decides "to set up a Committee of Eminent African Jurists" "to consider all aspects and implications of the Hissène Habré case as well as the options available for his trial" and to submit a report to its next session in July 2006.  
 
On January 26, the Belgian vice-prime minister and minister of justice, Mme. Laurette Onkelinx, states that if Senegal refuses to extradite Habré, Belgium will invoke article 30 of the Convention Against Torture which could lead it to taking Senegal before the International Court of Justice.  
 
On March 16, the European Parliament calls on Senegal to bring Hissène Habré to trial in Africa or extradite him to Belgium.  
 
On May 18, the U.N. Committee against Torture rules that Senegal has violated the Convention against Torture by failing to prosecute or extradite Habré. The Committee calls on the Senegalese authorities "to submit the present case to its competent authorities for the purpose of prosecution or, failing that, since Belgium has made an extradition request, to comply with that request, or, should the case arise, with any other extradition request made by another State, in accordance with the Convention."  
 
On July 2, the African Union, after hearing the report of the Committee of Eminent African Jurists, asks Senegal to prosecute Habré "on behalf of Africa." President Wade of Senegal announces that he agrees to the request.  
 
 
2007  
 
On January 31 , the Senegalese National Assembly adopts a new law which allows Senegalese courts to prosecute cases of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture, even when they are committed outside of Senegal, thus lifting the legal obstacles to Habré's trial in Senegal.  
 
On April 26, the European Parliament invites the European Union "to encourage and assist the government of Senegal in preparing for the prompt and fair trial of Hissène Habré, in order to answer accusations of mass violations of human rights."  
 
On July 13, Senegal's Minister of Justice Cheikh Tidiane Sy announced that an eventual trial of Hissène Habré would be held before the Cour d'Assises, which would be reformed to do away with lay jurors and to create an appellate court, but he refused to give a timetable. Also in July, the Presidents of Switzerland and France announced that they would provide assistance to Senegal for the conduct of the investigation and trial.  
 
 
2008  
 
On January 20, an EU delegation, headed by Bruno Cathala, the Registrar of the International Criminal Court (ICC), arrives in Dakar to evaluate Senegal's needs and propose technical and financial help.  
 
On April 14, Madické Niang, the former coordinator of Hissène Habré's legal team becomes Minister of Justice in Senegal, a key position for the organization of the trial.  
 
On July 23, Senegal's Congress adopts a constitutional amendment which makes clear that the principle of non-retroactivity does not apply to genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes. The amendment entered into force on August 7 2008. 
 
On September 16, fourteen victims file complaints with a Senegalese prosecutor accusing Habré of crimes against humanity and torture.

On October 6, Habré brings a complaint before the ECOWAS Court of Justice against Senegal for violation of his fundamental rights.

On October 14, the Senegalese President said in an interview with the newspaper El Publico in October 2008 that if Senegal did not receive full international funding he would make Habré "leave Senegal".

On December 16, Habré's victims presented a request to intervene before the ECOWAS Court of Justice to defend Senegal against Habré's allegations.

2009

On February 2, the President of Senegal said that the trial will not begin until Senegal receives full international funding. He reaffirms that Senegal will not bear the costs of the trial.

On February 19, Belgium took the step of filing a case with the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN's highest tribunal, alleging that Senegal had violated the torture convention and its other obligations under international law by failing to prosecute or extradite Habré.

On April 8, Senegal took the formal pledge not to allow Habré to leave Senegal pending the court's judgment on the merits.

On May 28, the Court accepted Senegal's formal pledge.