Sudan's Bashir sentenced to 2 years for corruption
Sudan’s former president Omar al-Bashir was sentenced on Saturday to two years’ detention for corruption in the first of several cases against the ousted autocrat.
The charges stemmed from millions of dollars received by the toppled strongman from Saudi Arabia.
The prosector general confirmed Bashir was also being investigated for “killings and crimes against humanity in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile”, Sudanese states all hit by major armed conflict since the turn of the century.
The prosecutor also noted the ex-president was being investigated for his role in the coup that brought him to power in 1989 and said that the punishment for some of his alleged crimes was death by hanging.
Bashir, who was deposed by the army in April after months of mass protests against his iron-fisted rule, appeared in court in a metal cage wearing a traditional white jalabiya and turban for the verdict.
He was convicted of corruption and possession of foreign currency, judge Al Sadiq Abdelrahman said, charges which can carry a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
Instead the court, taking into account his age, ordered the 75year-old to serve two years in a correctional centre for the elderly.
Bashir will serve his sentence after the verdict has been reached in another case in which he is accused of ordering the killing of demonstrators during the protests that led to his ouster, the judge said.
The court also ordered the confiscation of the currency found at Bashir’s home.
Sudan is now ruled by a joint civilian and military sovereign council, which is tasked with overseeing a transition to civilian rule.
Bashir’s lawyer Mohamed alHassan had said before the verdict that the ex-president’s defence did not see the trial as a legal case, but as a “political” one.
The trial does not relate to charges Bashir faces at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Bashir has been wanted by the ICC for years for his role in the Darfur war that broke out in 2003, when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against his Arab-dominated government which they accused of marginalising the region.
Human rights groups say Khartoum targeted suspected pro-rebel ethnic groups with a scorched earth policy, raping, killing, looting and burning villages. The Darfur conflict left around 300,000 people dead and 2.5m displaced, according to the United Nations.
After Bashir was toppled, ICC prosecutors requested he stand trial for the killings in Darfur. —