Massacre in Sudan: Ex-militia chief sentenced to 20 years in prison

It was the World Criminal Court’s first verdict on the crimes in Darfur. The also as Ali Kushayb According to the court, the well-known defendant was one of the most important leaders of those supported by the government Janjaweed-Miliz which is blamed for the murder of around 300,000 people in the western Sudanese region from 2003 to 2006. According to their own statements, the judges saw very few reasons to reduce the sentence. However, the sentence was shorter because Abd-Al-Rahman had turned himself in voluntarily in 2020 and because of his advanced age, now 76 years old.

The prosecution had called for life imprisonment. The defense had already filed an appeal against the verdict. The pre-trial detention is counted towards the sentence. It is not yet known in which country he will serve his sentence.

Numerous witnesses

Abd-Al-Rahman had denied all allegations. He presented himself to court in the summer of 2020. Numerous witnesses identified him and described the mass murders, torture, rape and looting in detail during the trial.

A good 20 years ago, civil war broke out in southwest Sudan. The UN Security Council had commissioned the International Criminal Court to prosecute the Darfur massacres. So far there has only been this single process. The Muslim-Arab Janjaweed cavalry militias have long been accused of taking action, particularly against the black African civilian population in Darfur, with the backing of the government at the time in Khartoum.