Ousted president Al Bashir pleads full responsibility for Sudan 1989 coup

Yesterday, during his plea, he said that no member of the Revolutionary Command Council had any role in the events of June 30, 1989. The former president said he was “proud” to have been “the leader of the national salvation revolution.”

Al Bashir appeared before the special court for the first time since the trial began in 2020, facing charges of undermining the national constitutional order during the military uprising in 1989. He came to the court from Kober prison in Khartoum, where he is being held after being convicted on charges of corruption and currency irregularities in December 2019. 

He refused to make any statements before the legal committee investigating the coup that brought him and the Islamic Front to power for 30 years, “because it was a political committee that included activists.” 

He said the leaders of the Salvation Council were not involved in the coup and had no role in the planning or implementation of the coup, and that the movement was not with the participation of any civilian figure. 

“We did not intend to monopolise power,” he said. “The conditions in the army were dire, and I proudly stand before the court and say that I am the leader of the Salvation Revolution.” 

Lawyer Moaz Hadra, member of the indictment panel concerning the June 30, 1989 coup under the leadership of former Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir questioned the importance of yesterday’s plea. Hadra explained that “courts deal only with evidence and facts.” 

Hadra told Radio Dabanga that the ousted president aims to clear the Islamic Front when he says that he alone should be held accountable for the coup. 

The statement of the indicted former dictator is “just a political sermon that contradicts the facts and does not have any legal value,” he said. “It does not change anything,” referring to ample evidence confirming the Islamic Front’s planning and participation in the 1989 coup. 

“Al Bashir’s statement contradicts his lawyer’s line of defence, as well as his statements about the subject for the past thirty years,” he said, adding: “Nobody can carry out a coup by themselves.” 

May 2021, the Khartoum court that is trying deposed former president Omar Al Bashir and 27 former officials for the 1989 coup, heard a detailed list of those involved in the plot. 

Ousted President Omar Al Bashir, who ruled the country for 30 years and was deposed by a military coup on April 11, 2019, was sentenced to two years in a ‘correctional facility’ designed for older prisoners following his ouster. 

Al Bashir has also been charged with incitement and involvement in the killing of demonstrators during the protests that led to his removal from power. In December he was questioned about his role in the 1989 coup that brought him to power.