Bashir trial opens as Sudan sovereign council delayed

KHARTOUM: Sudan’s deposed military leader Omar al-Bashir, who ruled the country for 30 years, arrived in court on Monday in Khartoum for the start of his trial on corruption charges.

The trial comes as a sovereign council was being formed, following Saturday’s signing of a transitional constitution by protest leaders and the generals who took over after Bashir’s ouster was hailed at home and abroad as a major landmark.

The 75-year-old, whose Islamist military regime ruled Sudan for 30 years, was forced from power on April 11, after months of nationwide protests.An AFP reporter outside the Judicial and Legal Science Institute where the trial is taking place on Monday said Bashir arrived in a huge military convoy.

In April, Sudan’s transitional army ruler General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said more than $113 million worth of cash in three currencies had been seized from Bashir’s residence.In May, the prosecutor general also said Bashir had been charged over killings during the anti-regime protests which eventually led to his ouster.

London-based rights watchdog has warned however that the corruption trial should not distract from the heavier indictments that have been filed against him by The Hague-based International Criminal Court. Bashir faces charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide at the ICC for his role in the war in Darfur, where a rebellion erupted in 2003.

Amnesty urged the country’s new transitional institutions to ratify the ICC’s Rome Statute, a move that would allow for his transfer to the international tribunal. The ICC has for years demanded that Bashir stand trial, and has renewed its call since his fall. The trial comes as the composition of the joint civilian and military sovereign council that will steer the country of 40 million through a 39-month transition was due to be unveiled on Monday.