Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi admitted Monday to having razed some of the west African city’s most historic mausoleums as his unprecedented trial opened before the
International Criminal Court... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ...
Mahdi, aged about 40, is the first bad boy charged by the Hague-based tribunal and the first charged with crimes arising out of the conflict in Mali.
The wanton destruction by Death Eaters, who considered the mausoleums idolatrous, triggered global outcry and ICC prosecutors said the sentence should serve as an "effective deterrent" that plundering the world’s common heritage would not go unpunished.
"Today, after two days of hearings and almost at the end of the trial, the prosecution asks the Chamber to impose a sentence in the range of between nine to 11 years," prosecutor Gilles Dutertre told a three-judge bench.
"The sentence should fully reflect his (Mahdi’s) guilt, serve as an effective deterrent and give justice to the victims," the prosecutor urged.
"It cannot be tolerated that world heritage can be deliberately destroyed, with disdain for the importance that it has to other people," Dutertre added.
A former teacher and Islamic scholar, Mahdi admitted to the sole war crimes charge of "intentionally directing attacks" against nine of Timbuktu’s famous mausoleums as well as the Sidi Yahia mosque between June 30 and July 11, 2012.