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AFP
The Khartoum courthouse was crowded for the start of the trial.
The ousted Sudanese leader, Omar al-Bashir, was tried in the capital Khartoum in connection with the military coup that brought him to power more than three decades ago.
The 76-year-old man, who has already been convicted of corruption, could face the death penalty if convicted for his role in the 1989 coup.
More than 20 former officials are being tried alongside him.
Bashir was forced to leave power in 2019 after popular protests.
The civil uprising began in late 2018 as anti-austerity protests, but quickly turned into a call to end President Bashir’s government.
On April 11, 2019, the army announced that he had been expelled and arrested.
Subsequently, in August, a joint transitional government was formed consisting of top army and civilian officials.
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Omar al-Bashir took power in a 1989 coup d’etat and was ousted by the military in 2019
Bashir is also wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes and genocide in western Darfur.
Sudanese authorities said in February they were ready to hand the former leader over to the ICC.
What happened in court?
The defendants, including former Vice Presidents Ali Osman Taha and Bakri Hassan Saleh, were in a caged area in the courtroom, the AFP news agency reports.
“This court will listen to each of them and we will give each of the 28 accused an opportunity to defend themselves,” says the president of the court, Issam al-Din Mohammad Ibrahim.
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One of the country’s former vice presidents, Ali Osman Taha, was photographed in the courtroom along with other defendants.
He adds that one of Bashir’s 150 defense lawyers, Hashem al-Gali, said in court that his client and other defendants were facing “impeachment” that was “in a hostile environment.”
The court postponed the trial until August 11 before statements or evidence could be given, the Reuters news agency reports.
The decision was made to allow more lawyers and relatives of the defendants to attend, he adds.
What happened in 1989?
Bashir took power in a military coup on June 30 against Prime Minister Sadek al-Mahdi’s democratically elected government.
Along with other officials who served in his government, Bashir is accused of having planned the coup in which the army arrested Sudan’s political leaders, suspended parliament, closed the airport and announced the overthrow on the radio.
