The trial of Omar el-Bechir, still unthinkable four months ago, is due to open Saturday, August 17. The former Sudanese president overthrown by the street, after twenty-six years in power must answer in front of a Sudanese court of accusations of corruption. The equivalent of $ 113 million in foreign currency and Sudanese pounds had been seized a few days after being deposed and arrested on April 11 in one of his residences in Khartoum.
Ironically, it is also Saturday that the Military Transit Council and representatives of the Alliance for Freedom and Change (ALC) spearhead the challenge will sign a historic agreement opening a three-year transition period to a civil power.
Obtained after tough negotiations, the agreement puts an end to months of demonstrations, triggered on December 19 by the decision of the government to triple the price of bread before turning into a challenge to the authoritarian regime of Omar el-Bechir. More than 250 people were killed in the blood, including 127 in the brutal dispersal of a sit-in in front of army headquarters in Khartoum on 3 June.
On Saturday, former President Omar al-Bashir will not answer for these deaths. He will also not be prosecuted for war crimes and genocide charges in the Darfur War between 2003 and 2004, for which two international warrants were issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2009. and 2010. "I think the corruption trial will be the first in a series against him. Then come those related to war crimes, "wants to believe Jean-Claude Felix-Tchicaya, researcher at the Institute of Prospective and Security in Europe (IPSE) contacted by France 24.
In mid-June, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda pleaded before the UN Security Council for a trial in international justice just after Omar el-Bechir's first appearance on 16 June. "The time has come for the people of Sudan to choose the law at the expense of impunity and to ensure that ICC suspects in the Darfur case are ultimately tried in court," she said.
"Soldiers turned into democrats"
But it was an end of receivability that had once again opposed the leaders of the Military Council of the transition (CMT), considering that the Sudanese justice was quite independent and able to fulfill entirely its mission by organizing the trial of the former Sudanese leader. The military authorities reiterated the first refusal expressed in April.
"If the military refused to hand over Omar al-Bashir to the Court, it is because the large-scale crimes committed in Darfur were not only committed by the former president, but also by soldiers and militia" In May, Kevin Jon Heller, Associate Professor of Public International Law at the University of Amsterdam, analyzed in Jeune Afrique. "We know that he was not the only one to have done these abuses, and at the helm, Omar el-Bechir may well be talking about not sinking on his own. to become Democrats and currently part of the Transitional Council, "said Jean-Claude Felix-Tchicaya.
On Wednesday, August 15, the United States announced sanctions against Salah Gosh, the former head of Sudan's intelligence service under Omar al-Bashir, for "gross violations of human rights". "The department has credible information [stating] that Salah Gosh was involved in torture during his time as head of the NISS," a state department statement said.
According to a source close to the challenge quoted by Le Monde, it is undeniable that "the military does not want el-Bechir to be tried for reasons other than these corruption cases, because that would put them in danger." According to the same source, military officials including some members of the WCL "were the armed arm" of Omar al-Bashir in the crimes of Darfur.
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Omar al-Bashir has for more than ten years escaped international justice despite the ICC's mandates. He had even been able to make multiple trips to a dozen countries. But if the Transitional Military Council has spoken out against his extradition, a civilian government may be more likely to accept his transfer to The Hague. Sudan is not a State Party to the Rome Statute. However, since the UN Security Council has referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC, the Court can exercise its jurisdiction.
Amnesty International on Friday called for the former Sudanese leader to be brought to justice. "Although this trial is a step towards accountability for some of its alleged crimes, it is still sought after for heinous crimes committed against the Sudanese people," said Joan Nyanyuki, East Africa director, Horn of Africa. Africa and Great Lakes, by Amnesty International.