Sudan policeman in court over Darfur violence

By Opheera McDoom

EL-GENEINA, Sudan (Reuters) – In a tiny, dim courtroom in
Sudan, policeman Jamal Zacharia stood trial on Wednesday for
shooting and killing a student who tried to demonstrate against
an attack by militias on a Darfuri village.

Zacharia is accused of opening fire on December 21 on a
crowd of students who wanted to march in protest against an
attack on the nearby Abu Surooj village by Arab militia.

One boy later died of his wounds and several others were
injured by tear gas, the court heard.

His commanding officer Haydar Ibrahim told the court he saw
Zacharia shoot in the direction of the students. “Straight away
we arrested him and took away his weapons,” he said. Zacharia
denies firing any shots.

This is the first case before Sudan’s special court for war
crimes in the West Darfur capital el-Geneina and the court was
convened ahead of schedule for the case.

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is
expected to visit later this month.

Human rights groups say the government backs Arab militias
who have waged a campaign of murder, looting and rape in the
remote region of Darfur since the start of a rebellion there.
Washington has called the violence genocide.

The U.N. human rights chief said last month Sudan’s
security services operate in a “climate of impunity.” Sudan
denies this.

Defense STRUGGLES

The proceedings were adjourned many times as the defense
struggled because of lack of time to prepare.

The ICC is investigating alleged war crimes in Darfur but
no investigators have been to Darfur, which the ICC says is
because of lack of security but observers attribute to
Khartoum’s reluctance to cooperate.

Sudan’s government, which has signed but not ratified the
treaty establishing the ICC, refuses to allow any Sudanese
citizen to be tried outside national courts and says it will
not allow ICC investigators to work in Darfur.

But it has said it would allow prosecutor Luis Moreno
Ocampo to visit at the end of February.

Just ahead of Moreno Ocampo’s address to the U.N. Security
Council in December, Sudan expanded its special Darfur court to
include permanent seats in each of the three Darfur states.

Zacharia is the first to stand trial in West Darfur.

“This is the only case so far before the court,” said judge
Ahmed Abou Zaid, head of the court. He said international law
took precedent over Sudanese law there.

Sudanese law offers immunity for army and police officers.
“This court is special to deal with the emergency in Darfur …
because there is a local war,” he told Reuters.

A separate court next door heard the trial of another
policeman accused of raping a 10-year-old girl from the Mornei
camp in West Darfur.

Asked why this case was not being tried in the
much-publicized Darfur special court, a lawyer close to the
case said: “This is for political reasons.”

Rapes are often blamed on armed, uniformed men but Khartoum
denies any campaign of rape and has arrested international aid
workers for reporting such cases.