Sudan policeman in court over Darfur violence
Feb 8, 2005 (EL-GENEINA) — In a tiny, dim courtroom in Sudan, policeman Jamal Zacharia stood trial on Wednesday for shooting and killing a student who tried to demonstrate against an attack by militias on a Darfuri village.
Zacharia is accused of opening fire on December 21 on a crowd of students who wanted to march in protest against an attack on the nearby Abu Surooj village by Arab militia.
One boy later died of his wounds and several others were injured by tear gas, the court heard.
His commanding officer Haydar Ibrahim told the court he saw Zacharia shoot in the direction of the students. “Straight away we arrested him and took away his weapons,” he said. Zacharia denies firing any shots.
This is the first case before Sudan’s special court for war crimes in the West Darfur capital el-Geneina and the court was convened ahead of schedule for the case.
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is expected to visit later this month.
Human rights groups say the government backs Arab militias who have waged a campaign of murder, looting and rape in the remote region of Darfur since the start of a rebellion there. Washington has called the violence genocide.
The U.N. human rights chief said last month Sudan’s security services operate in a “climate of impunity.” Sudan denies this.
DEFENCE STRUGGLES
The proceedings were adjourned many times as the defence struggled because of lack of time to prepare.
The ICC is investigating alleged war crimes in Darfur but no investigators have been to Darfur, which the ICC says is because of lack of security but observers attribute to Khartoum’s reluctance to cooperate.
Sudan’s government, which has signed but not ratified the treaty establishing the ICC, refuses to allow any Sudanese citizen to be tried outside national courts and says it will not allow ICC investigators to work in Darfur.
But it has said it would allow prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo to visit at the end of February.
Just ahead of Moreno Ocampo’s address to the U.N. Security Council in December, Sudan expanded its special Darfur court to include permanent seats in each of the three Darfur states.
Zacharia is the first to stand trial in West Darfur.
“This is the only case so far before the court,” said judge Ahmed Abou Zaid, head of the court. He said international law took precedent over Sudanese law there.
Sudanese law offers immunity for army and police officers. “This court is special to deal with the emergency in Darfur … because there is a local war,” he told Reuters.
A separate court next door heard the trial of another policeman accused of raping a 10-year-old girl from the Mornei camp in West Darfur.
Asked why this case was not being tried in the much-publicised Darfur special court, a lawyer close to the case said: “This is for political reasons.”
Rapes are often blamed on armed, uniformed men but Khartoum denies any campaign of rape and has arrested international aid workers for reporting such cases.
(Reuters)