The Criminal Court in Omdurman, Sudan, started the trial of a member of the Rapid Support Forces accused of killing the Sudanese youth Hanafi Abdel Shakur while participating in a protest demonstration on June 3, 2019.
The accused representative demanded that the maximum penalty in the law be applied to the accused.
This issue is considered one of the issues of public opinion demanded by the forces and entities supporting the Sudanese revolution that brought down the government of ousted President Omar al-Bashir and his regime.
The Sudanese Attorney General, Taj Al-Sir Al-Ink pledged to submit all cases of past violations in the country to the judiciary, according to what the constitutional document governing the transitional period indicated.
Achieving justice
The Sudanese Prosecutor also pledged to bring all perpetrators of violations during the rule of ousted President Omar al-Bashir to justice, to achieve the principle of impunity.
The ink indicated that Abdel Shakour was killed on the day the sit-in was lifted, after the protesters erected barricades on public roads in order to protect themselves from the military patrols that were waiting for them.
He continued: "The barricades have become an important symbol of struggle and culture for the present generation, as they protect it from any exaggeration in human rights violations."
El-Ink assured that the Rapid Support Forces took the initiative of handing over the accused once he got acquainted with him, and then lifted his immunity after he guaranteed him the defense rights in the pre-trial stage.
Sudanese Justice Minister Nasr El-Din Abdel-Bari said that the order to extradite the wanted persons to the International Criminal Court - including the dismissed President Omar al-Bashir - would be decided by the Council of Ministers and the Sovereign Council.
The young Hanafi Abdel Shakour was killed by a military vehicle driven by a major in the Rapid Support Forces, whose employees are widely believed to have committed numerous violations during the period following the sit-in.
Resolve the sit-in
On June 3, 2019, gunmen in military uniforms broke up a sit-in by protesters against the regime of former President Omar al-Bashir in front of the General Command of the Army in the capital, Khartoum.
According to the Ministry of Health, 66 people were killed, while the Forces for Freedom and Change, which led the protest movement, estimated the number of dead at 128.
At the time, the forces of change held the military council - which was then in charge - responsible for breaking up the sit-in, while the council said it had not issued a decree order.
On August 21, 2019, Sudan began a 39-month transitional period, during which power is shared by both the Military Council and the forces of the declaration of freedom and change, and ending with elections.