A special court in Khartoum has postponed the trial of ousted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and a number of officials from his regime by a week.
The court said it was doing so after defense attorneys raised questions about the suitability of the court in the pandemic season.
Mohammad Al-Hassan Al-Amin, a member of the defense, said the team had concerns about the health conditions of the courtroom.
“The court convened in this way without social distancing, without the precautions that must be taken that harms the accused, the court itself, and the police forces in it, so this is a major objection,” he said.
The defense team also objected to the decision of the Empowerment Removal Committee which dismissed a number of court judges because of their ties to the previous regime.
In a press statement, Al-Amin noted that dismissal of 152 judges by the Empowerment Committee, which is a political team that adjudicates the civil service, the Attorney General and the Ministry of Justice, does not leave the judiciary free to make decisions.
Bashir is also wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of committing genocide, ethnic cleansing, and other crimes against humanity during the conflict in the western Darfur region which lasted between 1959 and 2004 and caused 300,000 deaths and millions of displaced people.
In May 2019, the transitional government filed a case against Bashir and his government, and later in March, the Attorney General formed a commission to investigate the 1989 coup.
