On the 20th anniversary of the Ramadan/April Martyrs

On April 24th, 1990, twenty-eight officers and more than 200 non-commissioned officers were extra-judicially executed in summary trials by the Government of Sudan.

Throughout the past twenty years, the government ignored continuous calls by the martyrs’ families, as well as human rights and civil society groups, to identify graves of the executed victims and to pass their wills to their families. The authorities, moreover, refused to put to trial the accused leading politicians and army officers who executed the victims; but still are unlawfully privileged with immunity from criminal responsibility in gross violation of the Constitution and the rule of law.

That same period of time witnessed extra-judicial killings of many civilians by summary trials. Since 2005 up to the present time, the government troops and militias extra-judicially killed thousands of the civilian population in Darfur, raped hundreds of women, and misappropriated private property.

The Sudan Human Rights Organization condemns in the strongest terms possible the extra-judicial killings of the Sudanese innocent people by the Government of Sudan which never ceased to commit crimes against humanity since June 20th, 1989 up to the present time, including large-scale attacks these last few days against civilians in Zalingi villages in Darfur. The Organization calls on the authorities to abide-by all decisions approved by the International Criminal Court on the crimes committed by state employees against citizens in Darfur.

The Interim Constitution of Sudan stipulates clearly the right to life and the obligation of the State to abide-by the due process of justice by independent judiciary. We ask the authorities to honor the constitutional rights of People, to put to a fair and public trial the persons accused of killing civilians since June 30th, 1989, as well as the extra-judicial executions of members of the armed forces on April 24th, 1990.