Alleged militia leader on trial at ICC's first Darfur trial
ABC News
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says that an alleged leader of a Sudanese militia known as “devils on horseback” took a “strange glee” in his ruthless reputation during the Darfur conflict
THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- An alleged leader of a Sudanese militia known as “devils on horseback” took a “strange glee” in his ruthless reputation during the Darfur conflict, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Tuesday as the suspect's trial opened.
The 72-year-old defendant, Ali Muhammad Ali Abd–Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, pleaded innocent to all 31 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“I reject all of these charges,” he told the court in the first ICC trial to deal with atrocities by Sudanese government-backed forces in the Darfur region nearly two decades ago.
The trial opened amid global condemnation of atrocities blamed on Russian forces in the Ukraine war and is a reminder that international courts can and do bring alleged perpetrators of crimes to justice, even if the painstaking process can be long and slow.
