Sudan has discovered a mass grave believe to hold the bodies of army officers executed in 1990 for attempting to overthrow the country’s former leader Omar el-Bashir.
The discovery was announced by the public prosecutor’s office on Thursday during the ongoing trial of the former Sudanese president.
Twenty-eight army officers were executed under mysterious circumstances after el-Bashir seized power in 1989. For more than three decades, the 76-year-old and members of government refused to disclose the location of the officers’ burial site.
Investigations by experts
In a statement, the public prosecutor said a team of 23 experts was assembled to examine the mass grave.
The prosecutor said that after three weeks of investigations the experts concluded that it was probably a graveyard for the slain officers.
“The public prosecution managed to find a mass grave that data indicates … is most likely the graveyard where the bodies of the officers who were killed and buried in a brutal manner,” the statement said.
The public prosecutor added that officials will carry out further forensic investigation at the site, assuring the families of the lost officers that “such crimes will not pass without a just trial”.
A despot’s trial
El-Bashir was ousted from office in April last year.
He appeared in court in Khartoum on Tuesday to begin facing charges involving various serious crimes. Having already been convicted for corruption, the former Sudanese leader is standing trial for his role in the 1989 coup.
The 76-year-old former president, who is serving a two-year jail sentence in Khartoum, could face the death penalty should he be found guilty. Hearings were adjourned this week until 11 August to allow justice officials to move the case to a bigger courtroom.
He is also wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague to face genocide and war crimes.
E A Alanore
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