[JURIST] Former Sudanese militia leader Ali Kushayb and two other suspects are scheduled to go on trial Wednesday in a Sudanese criminal court, according to a report by the official SUNA news agency [media website]. Kushayb is one of two suspects accused [JURIST report] by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of committing war crimes in Sudan's Darfur region [JURIST archive]. He has been ordered to appear in Sudanese court along with Hamdi Sharafeddin and Abdel Rahman Daoud Hamida on charges of kidnapping, sequestration, arson and murder against civilians as part of Sudan's efforts to bring those responsible for war crimes in Darfur to justice. ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo last week asked the international court to issue summonses [JURIST report] for Kushayb and former Sudanese Interior Minister Ahmad Muhammad Harun in what was the first action taken against individuals in the ICC's ongoing investigation [ICC materials; JURIST news archive] of the Darfur situation.

Under the ICC's governing Rome Statute [PDF text], the ICC can prosecute individuals for war crimes, genocide or crimes against humanity only when a state is unwilling or unable to genuinely do so. Sudan has repeatedly rejected the ICC's jurisdiction [JURIST report] over the Darfur situation, and if Sudan tries Kushayb on the same charges he faces at the ICC, the ICC may lose jurisdiction over the case. Moreno-Ocampo has previously said that the Sudanese investigation against Kushayb does not overlap with the ICC's case [press briefing transcript]. Kushayb has rejected the ICC's accusations [JURIST report]. AFP has more.