A feared Sudanese militia leader has “voluntarily and enthusiastically” participated in war crimes, the prosecutor general of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Wednesday, making appalling accusations of rape, murder and torture.
The trial of Ali Mohamed Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, known by the war name Ali Kosheib, on trial for alleged crimes committed in the Darfur region during the civil war that ravaged Sudan, began on Wednesday. its final stretch.
The ICC, which sits in The Hague, is hearing final arguments over three days in the case of this leader of the Sudanese Janjawid militia and ally of deposed leader Omar al-Bashir.
Ali Kosheib is suspected of being responsible for violent attacks on villages in the Wadi Salih region of Central Darfur in August 2003. He is on trial on 31 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including of murder, rape, torture, pillage and cruel treatment.
Ali Kosheib, who denied the accusations, appeared impassive in court.
“The accused in this case was a senior member of the Janjaweed, a leader, and actively participated in the commission of the crimes, willingly and enthusiastically”declared Karim Khan before the judges.
“The harsh reality is that the targets in this case were not rebels but civilians. They were targeted. They suffered. They lost their lives. They were scarred physically and emotionally in many different ways.”added the prosecutor.
Fighting broke out in Darfur when rebels, denouncing systematic ethnic discrimination, took up arms against Mr Bashir’s Arab-dominated regime.
Khartoum responded by deploying the Janjawid militia, a force made up of members of nomadic groups in the region.
According to the UN, the conflict in Darfur has left 300,000 dead and 2.5 million displaced.
“Mass murders”
During the trial, witnesses spoke of horrors committed by the Janjaweed, Mr. Khan said.
“They have detailed accounts of mass murder, torture, rape, targeting of civilians, burning and looting of entire villages”he said.
He noted that militiamen raped children in front of their family members, using sexual violence as a form of violence. ” policy “ deliberate.
Omar al-Bashir, who ruled Sudan with an iron fist for three decades, was deposed in April 2019 after months of protests and is wanted by the ICC for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Ali Kosheib, for his part, took refuge in the Central African Republic in February 2020, when the new Sudanese government announced its intention to cooperate with the ICC.
Four months later, he surrendered voluntarily. His trial is the first to result from a referral by the UN Security Council.
Mr Khan also hopes to issue warrants relating to the current situation in Sudan.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been in the grip of a war between the army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, and the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of his former deputy turned rival, General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo.
The conflict has left tens of thousands dead and more than eleven million displaced, and is fueling one of the worst recent humanitarian crises according to the UN.
Both sides have been accused of targeting civilians and deliberately bombing residential areas.
On Monday, a Sudanese army airstrike on a market in North Darfur killed more than 100 people, according to a group of pro-democracy lawyers. The army has rejected the accusations, calling them ” lies “ propagated by political parties supporting the FSR.
Last year, the ICC opened a new investigation into war crimes committed in the region, and Mr. Khan spoke of “significant progress”.
“I sincerely believe that this trial represents a step forward in the quest for justice”he told the court on Wednesday, referring to the case against Ali Kosheib.