Former Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir made his first public appearance since the army overthrew him in April when he was taken to the prosecutor’s office in charge of corruption cases in the capital Khartoum on Sunday, reported BBC.
In the prosecutor’s office, Bashir was read the corruption charges against him. According to the official SUNA news agency, the prosecutors informed him he faced charges of possessing foreign currency and acquiring suspicious and illicit wealth.
“The principles of the prosecutor’s office were presented to the accused, former President Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir and a charge was laid under Articles 5 and 9 concerning the possession of foreign currency, as well as Article 6 concerning illegally acquired resources,” a representative from the prosecutor’s office said.
The 75-year-old former leader has been held under arrest since the military removed him from power in April following mass protests against his 30-year rule. He was being held in prison in Khartoum North, across the Blue Nile from the capital’s center. As per reports, millions of dollars worth of cash in US dollars, euros and Sudanese pounds that were found in al-Bashir’s home a week after his ouster.
Chief prosecutor Alwaleed Mahmoud said the former president would be referred for trial after a one-week period for objections expires.
“Forty-one criminal cases have been opened against symbols of the former regime, and measures to capture and investigate will be completed next week,” he added in a news conference in Khartoum, without giving further details.
He was taken back to his prison in Khartoum. The former president’s lawyers declined to answer any media questions.
Al-Bashir is also wanted by the International Criminal Court over charges of crimes against humanity and genocide relating to abuses by Sudanese forces in the country’s Darfur region between 2003 and 2008. The Sudanese military has said it would not extradite him to The Hague.
