HUDO Centre 8th May 2018 Update (19) COURT TRIAL OF AL-SANADRA CASE The court session was held on 3rd May 2018 at Khartoum North court before Justice/ Abdeen Hamid Dhahi. Apart from the prosecutor, all parties were present. During this session, two defending witnesses delivered their testimonies. The next court session is scheduled for 9th May 2018. Summary of the court session On 3rd May 2018, the session started at 11:00 AM (Sudan local time) at Khartoum North court before Justice/ Abdeen Hamid Dhahi and all parties were present apart from the prosecutor. At the beginning of the session, an officer/Colonel from Sudan Arm Force (SAF) informed court that, an investigation committee headed by a Major General was set up to investigate the escape of the sixth defendant together with other three detainees from the military prison. The colonel further informed court that an announcement was sent to all exit points of Sudan. Then the Judge decided to handle the case of the sixth defendant separately and continue the court process concerning the rest. Two (2) witnesses from the defendants’ side submitted their testimonies and they were cross-examined by the two panels of lawyers and the Judge. The summary of their testimonies is given below; The 4th defending witness: SAF First Lieutenant/ Haitham Abduelraheem Ali Adam, 37 years old  I was working in Al-Abbasiya during Al-Sanadra incident.  Together with a PDF Captain, we were assigned by Colonel/ Alrasheed to go to Al-Sanadra and evacuate the injured people.  Around 09:00AM, we moved from Al-Abbasiya towards Al-Sanadra in two vehicles whereby one had a machine gun mounted on. But we did not reached Al-Sanadra, we came back to AlAbbasiya by 10:15 AM.  I had ordered the soldiers to shoot towards the mountain which is in the opposite direction of AlSanadra.  The PDF in Al-Abbasiya takes their orders from SAF Al-Abbasiya.  The entire South Kordufan is a military operational area.