Sudan files lawsuit against combating sexual violence official over UNITAMS report
April 7, 2022 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese authorities on Thursday filed a complaint against the head of combating sexual violence agency over rape cases of protesters by the security forces mentioned UNITAMS head in his latest report to the UN Security Council.
Sulima Ishaq Director of the Combating Violence Against Women Unit (CVAW) an agency of the Ministry of Social Development told the Sudan Tribune that the State Criminal Prosecution office summoned her on Thursday to investigate a lawsuit likely lodged by the Sovereign Council or the General Intelligence Service (GIS).
The complaint is related to a report by UNITAMS Head Volker Peretz to the UN Security Council on March 2, citing alleged rape and gang rape by security services of women and girls who participated in anti-coup protests on December 19.
Ishaq said that the prosecution accused her of leaking information about the rapes to the UNITAMS head.
She added that the case was open under article 47 of the amended Criminal Act (offence against the state) and she had been released on bail.
At the time, Liz Throssell OHCHR Spokesperson stated that the UN Joint Human Rights Office in Sudan received allegations that 13 women and girls were victims of rape or gang rape.
For her part, CVAW head said they had evidence that eight women had been raped by the security forces after their arrest for participation in the anti-coup protest of December 19, 2021.
In a letter to the Security Council in response to Perthes’s report, the Sudanese government said that the Office of the Public Prosecutor verified only two such cases of rape by the security forces.
“The report mentions 13 cases of rape attributed to the police, when the Office of the Public Prosecutor has verified only two such cases, one attributed to a certain alif kha zay, report 3531, with respect to which legal proceedings have been initiated, and another attributed to a certain waw ayn shin, with respect to which the victim has not initiated a report,” read the letter of the Sudanese government dated on March 22.
(ST)