A Sudanese court on Sunday sentenced paramilitary leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and 15 others to death in absentia over the killing of a regional governor and committing war crimes in Darfur, state media reported.
The ruling is the first against the leadership of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since war broke out between the paramilitary group and the Sudanese army in April 2023.
The court in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, the army's de facto capital, convicted Dagalo and the other defendants of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and attacks on civilians and public facilities, state news agency SUNA reported.
Those sentenced include Dagalo's brother and deputy, Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo, as well as several RSF officers and tribal leaders from communities in West Darfur.
Killing of West Darfur governor
The case centres on the killing of West Darfur governor Khamis Abbakar in June 2023, shortly after RSF forces seized Al Geneina, the state capital.
Abbakar was killed hours after accusing the RSF and allied militias of carrying out attacks against civilians.
UN experts determined that between 10,000 and 15,000 people, mostly from the Massalit ethnic group, were killed in Al Geneina during the violence.
The RSF has repeatedly denied allegations of genocide and other war crimes.
Fallout
The court said it would refer the case to the Supreme Court for review and seek the arrest and extradition of those convicted through Interpol and other international channels.
Sudanese army leader Abdel Fattah Al Burhan and Dagalo fell out over plans to integrate the RSF into the regular army, a dispute that eventually led to war.
Now in its fourth year, the conflict between the army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced more than 11 million others and triggered what the United Nations describes as the world's largest displacement and hunger crises.
