Sudan: 3 years ago the first massacre of the 2019 revolution, and the investigation is stalling
A young man recites a poem in the middle of a group of demonstrators.
Khartoum, Sudan, June 19, 2019. This is one of the symbolic photos of the 2019 Sudanese revolution. AFP / Yasuyoshi Chiba
Text by: RFI Follow
4 mins
Just three years ago, on June 3, 2019, Sudanese soldiers and militiamen violently dispersed a sit-in of protesters outside the army headquarters in Khartoum.
Thousands of people had been peacefully occupying these places for weeks to demand the departure of Omar al-Bashir and his regime.
The bloody dispersal of this gathering left more than 130 dead and hundreds missing.
This massacre was perpetrated when Generals Abdel Fattah al-Burhane and Mohammed Hamdane Dagalo alias Hemetti were already in charge of the country.
Three years later, an investigation is underway but the families of the victims no longer expect anything from justice.
Advertising
Read more
with our correspondent in Khartoum,
Elliott Brachet
For the parents of Abdesalam Kisha, killed at the age of 25, by a sniper bullet on the sit-in, the memory of June 3, 2019 cannot be erased.
“
That day was a despicable massacre.
There were rapes, of women and men.
Bodies thrown into the Nile.
I accuse General Burhane directly.
We do not forget.
We will not forgive.
Nothing can break us.
We will continue to fight until the revolution is victorious.
»
Three years later, the official investigation has produced no results.
“
There can be no justice or investigation into the death of the martyrs while the military junta itself appoints the head of justice and the attorney general.
When a committee of Argentinian experts came to autopsy the bodies found decomposing in a morgue and mass grave, they were refused entry.
Everything is done to conceal the truth
”
For the mother who stands proud in front of the graffiti of her son painted on the wall of the house, there is only one solution.
“
I will continue to descend on all demonstrations to demand freedom, peace and justice.
These were the slogans for which our martyrs died.
Abdelsalam has not really left us, he still lives in us.
»
Security forces deployed at the site of the protest sit-in in Khartoum, Sudan, June 3, 2019. ASHRAF SHAZLY / AFP
Obstructions to the investigation
In addition to the more than 130 dead during the massacre of the sit-in, there are now to be added a hundred demonstrators killed in the repression which followed the coup d'etat.
Since then, the civil authorities have been ousted by the military during the coup d'etat of October 25, 2021, but the official investigation into this massacre has still not delivered a conclusion, as explained to us by the lawyer who is leading the investigations.
►
To read also
: in Sudan, one year after the massacre of June 3, 2019, justice has not advanced
Behind a pile of files,
Nabil Adeeb
receives at his office next to his own home because the premises of the committee of inquiry he heads were attacked in May by armed forces.
As he admits half-words, the investigation stalls.
“
Our investigation is continuing, but we are moving very slowly.
We face some obstructions from the authorities.
Parts of the investigation cannot be completed without a government being formed.
We need to examine physical evidence, satellite images, bodies, mass graves.
When that's done, we can present our results.
"
Nabil Adeeb, who was appointed by ousted Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, is widely criticized by many pro-democracy activists who accuse him of being too conciliatory with regard to the military.
The lawyer assures him that no official will be able to benefit from immunity.
However, the results of the investigation, if successful, will be entrusted to the Attorney General.
But the latter was appointed by General Burhane in person following the coup.
Demonstrations expected this Friday
This Friday afternoon, demonstrations are expected throughout the capital at the call of the resistance committees.
The tension is high as the repression has killed more than a hundred people since the coup.
This day will also be a test for the putschist authorities who have just lifted the state of emergency and are trying to put on a good face vis-à-vis the international community while the UN envoy for human rights man is visiting Khartoum until Saturday.
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_EN
Sudan