Prosecuting the RSF Militia before the International Judiciary…For Justice or Compensation?

Sudan Events – Agencies

The judicial authorities in Sudan have begun preparing legal dossiers on the crimes and violations of the Rapid Support RSF Militia, related to the destruction of infrastructure and public institutions and the looting of citizens’ property, with the aim of prosecuting the leaders and members of the forces in order to arrest and try them, and to obtain compensation and redress the harm caused to those affected.
Legal experts believe that what is important for the state and citizens is to obtain compensation that can be achieved through an agreement to establish an international fund, which shortens the time factor and the complexities of international judiciary regarding access to the funds of the accused.

On August 11, 2023, the President of the Sudanese Sovereignty Council TSC Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, issued a decision appointing the Attorney General as the head of a committee to register”war crimes, violations and practices of the Rapid Support Forces RSF “, and the committee includes representatives from the Ministry of Justice, the army, the police, the Intelligence Service and the National Commission for Human Rights.
The decision included assigning the committee to take all legal measures to confront the leaders and members of the Rapid Support Forces RSF internally and externally, and anyone proven to be involved in participating, inciting or assisting.
Judicial sources revealed to (Al Jazeera Net )that the committee formed about a year ago has documented thousands of crimes and violations, and received complaints from citizens who were harmed by the Rapid Support Forces RSF whether by killing, destroying their homes, or looting their property, money and investment facilities.
The sources – who requested anonymity – explained that the prosecution issued an indictment against more than 130 people, including senior and field leaders and officials in the forces, who it said committed war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Sudanese, including the commander of the Rapid Support Forces RSF Mohamed Hamdan Daglo “Hemedti”, his deputy and 3 of his brothers.
International criminal law preserves the right of victims of crimes to litigate and demand the punishment of those who commit serious violations of international humanitarian law, addition to their right to compensation for the damages they have suffered, which can be achieved through courts that have jurisdiction over the law, or through international agreements, or through the International Criminal Court (ICC) according to judicial sources.
The same sources indicate that the World community can establish international courts for crimes of genocide and war, as happened in Yugoslavia or Rwanda, or mixed courts in coordination with the concerned countries, as happened in Lebanon and Sierra Leone, in order to overcome the funding problem.
The Attorney General and Head of the “National Committee for War Crimes and Violations of the Rebel Rapid Support Forces RSF Yasser Bashir Al-Bukhari announced, following a meeting with Sovereignty Council member Ibrahim Jaber, an agreement to expedite investigation procedures and bring those involved in the crimes to trial.
He stated that his committee informed the Sovereignty Council TSC member of the results of its participation in the meetings of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, and presented the crimes committed by the Rapid Support Forces RSF and also informed him of its record of violations.
For his part, Minister of Justice Moawia Osman stated, during a visit to Gedaref on Wednesday, that the committee completed the file of monitoring the violations and crimes of the Rapid Support Forces RSF , and recorded strong evidence regarding war crimes, “including murder, looting, rape, and destruction of state property”, in preparation for submitting them to international justice.
The Public Prosecution Offices in Gedarif witnessed a large crowd of citizens during the past weeks, particularly those displaced from the states of Khartoum, Gezira , and Sennar, to record accusations regarding the crimes they were subjected to in their states, “which varied between theft, looting, rape, murder, beating, and terrorizing” according to the Minister of Justice.
Justice Options :

Sudanese lawyer and assistant secretary-general of the Arab Lawyers Union, Tariq Abdel Fattah, believes that the Sudanese government has two paths to justice regarding the crimes of the Rapid Support Forces RSF which are either transitional justice through “truth and reconciliation”, or resorting to international litigation to punish the perpetrators of crimes and obtain compensation and redress the harm done to citizens.
In his interview with (Al Jazeera Net ), the lawyer said that the government or any Sudanese citizen can resort to filing a complaint with any court that has jurisdiction over international law, in the United States or in the European Union countries, as happened with Syrians who were tried in Germany for committing crimes in their country, or Palestinians who filed charges in Britain against Israeli officials.
According to the lawyer, the government can demand compensation for the destruction of infrastructure, institutions, hospitals and universities, or to compensate citizens, as the United States US did when it accused Sudan of involvement in the bombing of the American embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998, where the American judiciary condemned Khartoum before the Court of Appeal overturned the decision. Despite this, the government of former Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok paid $335 million to compensate the families of the victims.
The legal expert believes that there is another way that will shorten the time and bypass the judicial complications in accessing the accused’s money to compensate the state and the citizen, which is the “international agreement” after the cessation of the war, to establish an international fund to help rebuild the state’s infrastructure and institutions and compensate citizens.
For his part, lawyer Al-Fadil Ahmed Al-Mahdi says that “the Rapid Support Forces RSF rebellion is a crime, and Hemeti admitted in his speeches to violating the law and inciting chaos, sabotage, looting and comprehensive abuse, even though his forces were established according to their law to assist the armed forces.”
The lawyer believes in a statement to (Al Jazeera Net )that “the Rapid Support Forces RSF announcement of control over cities or sites that were safe, the security chaos and systematic looting, addition to forced detention and torture, are matters that led to crimes and violations against citizens, which should be held legally accountable before the national or international judiciary.”
The Rapid Support Forces RSF leaders bear responsibility for all violations committed by their forces and the foreign mercenaries they brought in, but the dissolution of the forces by decree of the head of the Sovereignty Council TSC requires that cases be brought against individuals after the legal presence of the forces has ended, according to the lawyer.