Khartoum prosecutors summoned ousted President Omar al-Bashir, and three of the most prominent leaders of the former regime, over charges of terrorism, criminal participation, and incitement to kill demonstrators.
A group of lawyers presented a request to the attorney general to summon the deputy chairman of Sudan's Sovereign Council to give testimony regarding Bashir’s involvement in the killing of protesters earlier this year.
Authorities also arrested the leader of the Popular Congress Party Ibrahim Al-Sanoussi on charges of participating in the 1989 coup.
Sanoussi was sent to Kobar prison. Hundreds of people were killed and wounded, and thousands were arrested during anti-state protests, which lasted four months until Bashir’s ouster on April 11.
A case has also been opened against former First Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, former chairman of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) Ahmed Haroun and former Parliament Speaker El Fateh Ezzeldin.
They will be facing charges based on items 21, 25, 144 of the African country’s penal code. They are likely facing a five year or more jail sentence.
Earlier press reports quoted leaders of the dissolved Military Council that Al-Bashir issued strict directives a day before he was toppled. These orders included forcibly dispersing sit-ins, even if it led to the killing of a third of the Sudanese people.
Taha had also threatened the protesters with death if they took to the streets.
On another note, Sudan’s criminal prosecutors summoned Bashir to question him over the 1989 military coup, which brought him to power.
Last May, the prosecution had charged Bashir and his aides with undermining the constitutional system in the context of the 1989 coup.
Prosecutors also asked the prison service to question Bashir and a number of his aides over their role in the coup of 30 June 1989.