Former Sudanese President Omar Bashir, who was overthrown earlier this year and is due to stand trial on corruption charges next week, must also be tried for more serious crimes under international law, such as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th August, 2019) Former Sudanese President Omar Bashir, who was overthrown earlier this year and is due to stand trial on corruption charges next week, must also be tried for more serious crimes under international law, such as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, a prominent human rights organization said in a statement on Friday.
In a conversation with Sputnik earlier this month, Gen. Salah Abdelkhalig, a member of the ruling Transitional Military Council (TMC), said that Bashir would be tried domestically since Sudanese judges were fully capable of ruling on the case. On Thursday, the ex-leader's attorney, Mohammed Hassan Amin, said that the trial was rescheduled from August 17 to August 19.
"The Sudanese authorities must hand al-Bashir over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to answer charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Omar al-Bashir has evaded justice for far too long as the victims of horrific crimes still wait for justice and reparations more than a decade since the ICC issued the first warrant for his arrest," Joan Nyanyuki, Amnesty International Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes, was quoted as saying in the watchdog's statement.
Nyanyuki endorsed the upcoming trial but stressed that charges against Bashir � corruption, bribery, possession of foreign Currency, incitement and involvement in the killing of protesters � did not encompass the entirety of the crimes he had committed with respect to international law during his 30-year rule.
"While this [upcoming domestic] trial is a positive step towards accountability for some of his alleged crimes, he remains wanted for heinous crimes committed against the Sudanese people," Nyanyuki added.
The watchdog believed that the new Sudanese leadership must ratify as soon as possible the ICC Rome Statute, which the country signed in 2000, so that Bashir could be tried comprehensively on all crimes against him.
Mass rallies swept Sudan last December, initially, in response to a steep increase in the prices for bread and other consumer goods. They soon grew into a strong political movement that has resulted in a military coup on April 11. The TMC took over and placed Bashir in pre-trial detention, but protests have continued.
Earlier this month, the TMC and opposition reached an agreement on a constitutional declaration, which will be the country's main law during a three-year transitional period.
In 2009, Bashir became the first ever sitting head of state to be wanted by the ICC. Two arrest warrants tie him to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed during the 2003 conflict in Darfur.
