The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Fatou Bensouda pleaded Wednesday, June 19, before the UN Security Council for a translation before the international justice of the former Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir. The former leader has long been targeted by an arrest warrant for genocide in Darfur.

"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.

In detention since April in Sudan, Omar al-Bashir was informed Sunday of corruption charges against him. He is also the subject of prosecution in his country for the killing of protesters during the repression of the protest.

No transfer from Omar al-Bashir to the ICC

The military in power, however, said they did not intend to transfer him to the ICC, where he is accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for the Darfur conflict, which killed nearly 300,000 people. UN.

"Our position is unchanged" and "we have no obligation to the Court," said Sudan's representative to the UN, Elsadig Ali Ahmed. The former president will be tried next week and there will be no impunity, he added.

Highly anticipated, the trial of Omar al-Bashir will be held in a context of tension. The head of the Transitional Military Council in power, Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, on Wednesday called the protesters to "unconditional" negotiations, while the relationship between the two parties have escalated since the bloody dispersion of a sit-in early June.

ICC prosecutor focuses on political changes in Sudan

In view of the political upheavals in Sudan, the country now has "the opportunity to move away from its policy of total non-cooperation with my office and to undertake [...] a new commitment to justice for the victims. Darfur, "insisted the prosecutor.

"I am ready to engage in dialogue with the Sudanese authorities to ensure that suspects in Darfur are brought to an independent and impartial court, either in a courtroom in The Hague or in Sudan. Impunity is not an option The victims of Darfur deserve to finally be heard in court, "she said.

Five arrest warrants have been issued by the ICC in the Darfur case. In addition to former President El-Bashir, they include two suspects, Abdel Raheem Hussein and Ahmad Harun, who were also arrested in Khartoum, said the prosecutor.

Several members of the Security Council, including Europeans, have joined Fatou Bensouda's calls for a translation of the former Sudanese president into international justice and the beginning of cooperation of the new authorities with the ICC.

With AFP