The International Criminal Court on Tuesday ordered the leader of an Al Qaida-linked terrorist group to pay 7.2 million euros ($8.4 million) in reparations for atrocities he committed as head of the terrorist group in the Malian city of Timbuktu.

Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud was convicted of torture, religious persecution and other inhumane acts in 2024 and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Judges found he was a “key figure” in a reign of terror after terrorists overran Timbuktu in 2012.

“Mr. Al Hassan, as the person found responsible for the crimes, which caused the harm to the victims, is the person financially liable for the cost of repairing the harm,” Presiding Judge Kimberly Prost said, addressing the courtroom in the Dutch city of The Hague.

While the court has declared Al Hassan liable, it won't be able to collect the money from the 49-year old, who was declared indigent and was represented by a court-funded lawyer during his trial.

Trust Fund for Victims

Instead, reparations for the more than 65,000 victims will be paid by the Trust Fund for Victims, set up by the court’s member states to distribute the funds.

We are “one of the many innovations of the Rome Statute,” the fund’s executive director Deborah Ruiz Verduzco, told The Associated Press.

Under the court’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, the fund “responds to the harm resulting from the crimes under the jurisdiction.”

The 24 staff members in Ruiz Verduzco’s office are tasked with assisting victims and their families, establishing programmes in communities destroyed by violence and drumming up financial support to fulfil its mandate.

Fundraising

In its two decades of operation, the trust fund has only received money from perpetrators in one case.

“Substantial fundraising will need to take place,” Judge Prost said on Tuesday.

The bulk of the money will come from the court’s member states, though the fund also accepts private donations.

Judges guide how the reparations money will be allocated, though they solicit input from the victims themselves through their lawyers and the trust fund.

'Socio-economic support'

In the Al Hassan case, the reparations will be used for “socio-economic support, educational programmes or trainings, and psychological support,” according to the decision. Projects should target women and girls in particular, who suffered disproportionately under the criminal groups.

Communities in Mali have already seen some restitution. Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi pleaded guilty and was convicted in 2016 for destroying historic mausoleums in Timbuktu. In 2021, the trust fund began a project to repair ruined buildings.

Tuesday's decisions comes days after Al Qaeda-linked terrorists and Tuareg-led separatists carried out the largest coordinated attack in Mali in over a decade.