Sudan opposition: ‘For these reasons, we rejected the prosecutor's report on sit-in raid’

The Sudanese opposition has rejected the prosecutor’s report into the Khartoum sit-in raid. In a statement, Saturday, the opposition forces of Declaration of Freedom and Change said the report “lacked necessary integrity standards” and that its objective was “to blur and bury the facts under the rubble.”

The statement went on: “We reject the results of the report in full issued by the investigation commission, and we also reject the commission’s entire set of established procedures.”

The forces of the Declaration of Freedom and Change include the Sudan Call, the National Consensus Forces, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and the Civil Forces Assembly (CFA) as well as the Sudanese Professionals Association.

The statement said: “We insist that the commission investigates all incidents and crimes committed since 11 April 2019.”

Speaking to reasons for rejecting the results of the investigation, the forces of the Declaration of Freedom and Change stressed that: “the procedural refusal is due to the fact that the investigation commission was appointed by the Transitional Military Council (TMC) and this challenges its integrity because the TMC is involved in this case.”

READ: Sudan opposition rejects report on protesters’ killing 

The statement said that the TMC is an “opponent” in the case of the sit-in raid. Thus, the opponent cannot be the judge.”

The statement highlighted that the TMC is also a defendant in the case if one takes into consideration the army leadership’s “responsibility for the security and safety of citizens. Thus, some statements made by army leaders proved that the military junta took the decision to attack the sit-in.”

Other reasons

The forces of the Declaration of Freedom and Change said that the reasons for rejecting the results of the investigation are also due to the fact that “the investigation commission did not include other specialised teams that could have contributed to disclosing more serious results.”

The statement continued: “For example, the investigation of rape cases must be done in collaboration with psychologists and sociologists.”

The forces of the Declaration of Freedom and Change referred to its rejection of the report at a practical level because “the investigations did not clearly identify the accused parties and charged mysterious individuals instead.”

The statement pointed out that the investigation commission had to publish full names while referring to the competent authorities’ responsibility to detain the defendants.

The statement confirmed that the investigation commission came out with “flawed and incomplete statistics concerning the martyrs, victims, and wounded people.”

The statement also noted that the investigation commission had neglected the missing persons, and conducted no investigation in this regard.

The forces of the Declaration of Freedom and Change mentioned the formation of an independent national commission of inquiry to conduct a transparent and rigorous investigation with African support, according to the constitutional document (the Constitutional Declaration), which is being negotiated with the TMC.

 Sudan: Military, armed groups agree to free detainees

Aiming to erase facts

The Sudanese Congress Party, one of the components of the Sudan Call alliance, stated: “As expected, the investigation commission acted accordingly, after issuing a report that was drafted with the sole objective which is to hide and bury facts under the rubble.”

For his part, the leader in the forces of the Declaration of Freedom and Change, Mohammed Ziauddin, posted on his Facebook page that “the independent commission of inquiry on the massacre committed during the sit-in raid will be formed following the establishment of the Transitional Civil Government per the Constitutional Declaration.”

The leader in the forces of the Declaration of Freedom and Change, Mohamed Al-Hassan Al-Mahdi, also wrote on his Facebook page: “We do not care about the report issued by the investigation commission, which has been formed by the TMC.”

READ: Sudan says 87 killed, 168 wounded when June 3 protest broken up 

Meanwhile, the leader in the forces of the Declaration of Freedom and Change, Madani Abbas Madani, posted on his Facebook page, that “what came out of the investigation commission will not be of value for the future independent commission of inquiry. The threat of death will not hinder the formation and activities of the independent commission of inquiry. These issues cannot be camouflaged by any political agreement and will not be cancelled under any statute of limitations.”

Earlier Saturday, the Sudanese General Prosecution said nine senior officers were facing charges for crimes against humanity committed during the Khartoum sit-in raid, about two months ago.

The head of the committee, Fatah Al-Rahman Youssef, denied in a press conference, unveiling through investigations cases of rape or burning with fire during the sit-in raid, indicating that the bodies with tied legs found in the Nile have nothing to do with the incident under inquiry.

On 3 June, former Attorney General, Walid Ahmed Sayed Mahmoud, formed an investigation commission into the sit-in raid which took place in front of the army headquarters in Khartoum.

Following the decision of the Attorney-General, the investigation commission included chiefs of public prosecution, high-level prosecutors, first prosecutors, police representatives, and the military judiciary.