Sudanese army to hand over killers of protesters: official

KHARTOUM, Sudan

The Attorney General Saturday announced the arrest of seven Sudanese military personnel accused of being involved in the murder of peaceful demonstrators last week.

The Chairman of the Sovereign Council Abd al-Fattah al-Burhan, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Sudan Armed Forces, handed over the report of the Military Investigation Committee to the Attorney General Taj Elsir El-Hiber at a meeting at the army headquarters.

The handover was attended by Mohamed al-Faki Suleiman, a member of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, the Minister of the Cabinet Affairs, the Minister of Defence, a representative of the ruling Forces for Freedom and Change Osman Taha and the Director of the Military Judiciary.

In press statements after the meeting, El-Hiber announced he had received the military report that includes the list of the military accused of being behind the attack on civilians and those who opened fire at the demonstrators on May 11th.

"There are seven defendants in the military prison together with 92 others suspected of being involved in the attack," said the Attorney General.

He added that the military authorities will hand over all the detainees to the Public Prosecution on Sunday to conduct the investigation.

The two Sudanese youth were shot dead at the end of a rally last Tuesday to commemorate the killing of over 200 civilians outside the army headquarters by the security forces on 3 June 2019.

The killing of the two young men led to widespread popular anger against the transitional government, which demanded the army to hand over those involved in the shooting to the Public Prosecution immediately.

The cabinet minister said that the government is determined to try all those who took part in last week attack.

The government officials said that the operation was planned by a number of army officers supporters of the former regime. Their action meant to create chaos and instability in the country.

Al-Burhan had pledged to investigate the attack and swiftly hand over the culprits to justice.