Darfur rape cases are individual – judge

Oct 24, 2005 (KHARTOUM) — The chairman of the special criminal court for the Darfur states, Mahmoud Abkam, said the rape cases which the court was looking into were individual cases.

A special judge, sits in court in Nyala Sept 30, 2004 to try six Sudanese men accused of belonging to the Janjaweed, who killed 24 people in the southern Darfur region in Oct 2003.(Reuters).

He said the court had not found anything on the ground about the cases which Western media always speak about.

Abkam stressed that even if the court went back to the files of the cases in Al-Fashir and Nyala there were no testimonies which indicated that rape was a result of a planned and systematic group act.

In a press statement to the official SUNA, he affirmed that his court will not, and can never be negligent in starting proceedings against any official that has a case filed against him, and where the charges leads him to court.

He said the information which Western media and organizations relied on for their reports had not been filed as a suit with any legal authority so that it could make a judgement or carry out the necessary investigations to specify whether there was an accusation so as to present the case for trial.

(ST)