The first session of the trial of Ali Abdel Rahman, known as Ali Kushayb, a war crime suspect in the western Sudanese region of Darfur two decades ago, began today Monday in The Hague, the Netherlands, before the International Criminal Court.
The session kicked off with reading the accusations leveled against Kushayb, 63, of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur two decades ago. On June 9, the man voluntarily surrendered to United Nations forces in the Central African Republic.
The suspect, whose court documents previously reported that his nickname, Kushayb, said he preferred Ali Muhammad Ali Abd al-Rahman's name. When the judge asked him if he was aware of the accusations mentioned in his arrest warrant, he added: "Yes, I was informed but it is invalid."
"After that they forced me to come here, and I hope to find justice," he said.
The former Sudanese leader is the first to appear before the International Criminal Court among the Sudanese most wanted by the court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Among those wanted is the ousted president, Omar al-Bashir, who is currently detained. When he was in the verdict, Al-Bashir described the court issuing two arrest warrants against him on the same charges as a politicized act.
Kushayb's arrest warrant was issued by the criminal court in April 2007, but the Sudanese government then refused to cooperate with the court.
At that time, the criminal court accused him of committing war crimes against civilians in Darfur during 2003 and 2004, and of ordering murder, rape and looting. He was known as the "colonel of the colonels" and was active in the Wadi Salih area in western Darfur.
Kushayb is described as a senior leader of the Janjaweed militia who supported the Sudanese government against rebel groups in Darfur during the rule of Bashir, and belongs to the "coexistence" tribe in the region. He was a member of the government Popular Defense Forces and commander of the Janjaweed militia in Darfur from August 2003 to March 2004, and served as a liaison between the government and the Janjaweed, and at the same time participated in attacks against the target groups.