Eighty-one people accused of fighting for Boko Haram have gone on trial in Niger in a public court sitting, one of the first of its kind after closed-door trials of suspected insurgents were criticised by human rights groups.
The suspects, on trial in a special international court in the capital, Niamey, come from Niger, Nigeria and Chad.
They are suspected of playing a role in Boko Haram’s near decade-long bid to create a caliphate in Nigeria.
Open trials are meant to show that suspected fighters will be given due process, and could also help alleviate a conflict that has been stoked at times by the mistreatment of captives.
The Boko Haram insurgency has spread beyond its roots in Nigeria, killing 20,000 and uprooting nearly 3 million in the Lake Chad region.
The death in 2009 of Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf in police custody is seen as one of the major triggers for the conflict.
