Photo credits: DabangaSudan.org
The national public prosecutor who serves one of Africa’s most war-torn countries in world history recently announced a horrifying discovery.
According to a Monday (July 27) report by the Irish Times, Sudan’s public prosecutor confirmed last Thursday (July 23) that a mass grave was discovered, which contained the dead bodies of 28 Sudanese army officers. The mass grave was uncovered not far from Sudan’s capital city of Khartoum.
The Sudanese officers are believed to have been killed in 1990 under the direct order of Omar Al-Bashir (pictured), Sudan’s ousted president. The officers were executed and buried in a formerly top-secret site following a rapid military trial, which took place after Al-Bashir seized power in a 1989 military coup.
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“The public prosecution managed to find a mass grave that data indicates that it is most likely the graveyard where the bodies of the officers who were killed and buried in a brutal manner,” said Sudan’s public prosecutor in an official statement.
Twenty-three field experts worked for three weeks at the site where the mass grave was discovered. Sudan’s public prosecutor also stated that additional investigative and forensic procedures would be undertaken regarding this case in the near future.
“The families of these officers who were executed will see that such crimes will not pass without a just trial,” the public prosecutor also said.
Al-Bashir, 76, made a court appearance last Tuesday (July 21) at a hearing where his trial was scheduled to begin. The once-feared dictator faces charges related to the forceful 1989 coup that began his 30-year reign of terror in Sudan. Al-Bashir (the so-called “Butcher of Khartoum”) faces the death penalty in a Sudanese court if he is convicted of his crimes.
In April 2019, Al-Bashir was ejected from his throne of bones after months of unrelenting protests. Sudan’s public prosecutor has questioned the deposed president about the 28 dead officers but no word has been heard from Al-Bashir’s attorneys. The public prosecutor has also been tight-lipped about the details surrounding Al-Bashir’s questioning while in custody.
In June 2020, another mass grave was previously discovered in Sudan, according to its public prosecutor. These bodies were found just east of Khartoum at a separate burial site. The public prosecutor stated authorities believe that the bodies were those of dead Sudanese students who were presumed to be killed in 1998.
Allegedly, the students were brutally murdered after trying to abandon their military duty at a Sudanese Army training camp, the public prosecutor said.
Source: Mass Graves Found in Sudan; Army Officers Killed Under the Order of Al-Bashir Among the Dead
