Former Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, overthrown in a military coup in April 2019, acknowledged Tuesday before a court that he was «fully responsible» for the 1989 uprising that brought him to power, as part of a trial in which he could face the death penalty.
«I take full responsibility for what happened on June 30 (1989) and I know that this confession is the strongest proof,» said Al Bashir, who was already convicted of corruption after being ousted from power after nearly 30 years of rule, according to the Sudanese state news agency SUNA.
He also affirmed that «the members of the Revolutionary Council had no role in the planning and execution, but were elected to represent their units» after the uprising, in which the democratically elected government of Sadiq al Mahdi was overthrown.
Al Bashir is accused together with officers who were part of his government of having participated in the plot, the arrest of political leaders, the suspension of Parliament, the closure of the airport and the overthrow of the elected authorities in the framework of the aforementioned coup d’état.
The investigations into the 1989 coup are an important step by the transitional government agreed upon after the military uprising of 2019 – overthrown in a new uprising in November 2021 – against the Islamist political groupings that helped the former president come to power and stay in office for nearly 30 years.
Al Bashir was sentenced in late 2019 to a prison term on corruption charges but has never been prosecuted for the alleged crimes against humanity. He is also the subject of two International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for alleged abuses committed under his command in the Darfur region.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
