BANGUI, Central African Republic -- Former Central African Republic ruler Jean-Bedel Bokassa denied today accusations of torturing and murdering schoolchildren as his trial reopened on charges stemming from his 13-year reign as the 'Butcher of Bangui.'
Bokassa told reporters before entering the courtroom that he did not personally participate in the deaths of more than 100 schoolchildren in 1979 that led to his downfall in a French-backed coup.
In his opening statement, the ex-emperor said, 'I'm don't say I'm a saint. I'm a man like any other.' But he admitted 'unfortunate things may have happened' during his 13-year reign.
Radio reports said the trial was expected to run until Dec. 27.
Bokassa and six other people allegedly tortured and murdered the children for protesting that they could not afford elaborate school uniforms made in Bokassa's factories.
Fifty-nine were allegedly killed. The six people, including Bokassa's son-in-law, accused of helping the emperor murder the children were executed in 1981 after his trial in absentia.
Bokassa's trial on charges of murder, embezzlement and cannibalism originally opened Nov. 26, but court officials postponed the hearing after prosecutors read the charges against the 65-year-old former emperor.
Lawyers in the case said they needed more time to prepare.
Since then, some 200 witnesses were interviewed and more than 60 people joined the case as a civil party. The trial is being broadcast live on state-run radio.
Among the witnesses expected to testify are Bokassa's former prime minister, Henri Maidou, Elisabeth Domitien, who was alsoa prime minister under Bokassa, Alphonse Koyama, former finance minister.
Bokassa gave up exile in a Paris chateau on Oct. 22 to realize his dream of returning to his homeland, but was arrested and jailed by the military government of President Andre Kolingba on arrival.
The trial is his second since a bloodless coup ended his regime in 1979 and installed David Dacko, who was later toppled himself. Bokassa was sentenced to death in absentia December 1980.
He could receive the same sentence if convicted in the current case although some reports have said he might be expelled to France again.
Bokassa seized power in the country, one of the world's poorest, in a coup in 1966. Eleven years later he had himself crowned emperor in a lavish $25 million ceremony that nearly broke the nation's economy.
In a 13-year reign during which he earned the nickname, the 'Butcher of Bangui,' he adorned himself with jewels and dozens of medals he presented to himself while handing out punishments to prisoners from a marble throne.
He is said to have given convicts a choice of dying in the jaws of crocodiles lurking in a pond or being torn apart by lions in a metal cage.
Corpses found in his palace kitchen walk-in refrigerators seemed to support claims he dined on human flesh, although Bokassa always denied the charge.
He was always an embarrassment to the French government -- during his rule of the former French colony he called former French President Charles de Gaulle 'my papa' and gave diamonds to another ex-president, Valery Giscard d'Estaing.
He has threatened to reveal more about his relationship with the French government.
