<p>A senior Sudanese army officer was the first to be questioned by a committee investigating a deadly crackdown last year on pro-democracy protesters, a source linked to the probe said Tuesday.</p>.<p>"The first hearing of a member of the Transitional Military Council took place on Monday," an associate of committee head Nabil Adib told AFP, without revealing the name of the questioned officer.</p>.<p>The Transitional Military Council, now dissolved, was established in April last year after the army deposed longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir following months of mass protests against his rule.</p>.<p>Demonstrators remained encamped outside army headquarters in the capital Khartoum even after Bashir fell from power, to demand a transition to a civilian government</p>.<p>On June 3, 2019, gunmen in military fatigues raided the sit-in, shooting and beating protesters.</p>.<p>The SUNA state news agency earlier this month quoted the media adviser to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan as saying that "all members" of the dissolved TMC would have to "present themselves" to an investigative commission.</p>.<p>Burhan had himself headed the TMC, which was superceded in August 2019 by the Sovereign Council, a power-sharing comprised of military and civilian figures.</p>.<p>Burhan has likewise chaired the Sovereign Council, the highest executive body in the country's shaky transition, but he has lately criticised the power-sharing institutions.</p>.<p>The Sudan Human Rights Commission, citing police records, said 85 people died in the June 2019 crackdown, while medics linked to the protesters said over 100 were killed.</p>.<p>A spokesman for the TMC acknowledged days after the killings that "mistakes happened" after it ordered commanders to "come up with a plan to disperse" the protesters.</p>.<p>An initial probe by military officials and prosecutors then found that some members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and other security forces were involved in the killings.</p>.<p>Adib, a veteran human rights lawyer, was named to lead the investigative committee in October last year by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.</p>.<p>The June 3 crackdown was the bloodiest episode during the extended protests, which resulted in several hundred deaths, according to various reports.</p>
<p>A senior Sudanese army officer was the first to be questioned by a committee investigating a deadly crackdown last year on pro-democracy protesters, a source linked to the probe said Tuesday.</p>.<p>"The first hearing of a member of the Transitional Military Council took place on Monday," an associate of committee head Nabil Adib told AFP, without revealing the name of the questioned officer.</p>.<p>The Transitional Military Council, now dissolved, was established in April last year after the army deposed longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir following months of mass protests against his rule.</p>.<p>Demonstrators remained encamped outside army headquarters in the capital Khartoum even after Bashir fell from power, to demand a transition to a civilian government</p>.<p>On June 3, 2019, gunmen in military fatigues raided the sit-in, shooting and beating protesters.</p>.<p>The SUNA state news agency earlier this month quoted the media adviser to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan as saying that "all members" of the dissolved TMC would have to "present themselves" to an investigative commission.</p>.<p>Burhan had himself headed the TMC, which was superceded in August 2019 by the Sovereign Council, a power-sharing comprised of military and civilian figures.</p>.<p>Burhan has likewise chaired the Sovereign Council, the highest executive body in the country's shaky transition, but he has lately criticised the power-sharing institutions.</p>.<p>The Sudan Human Rights Commission, citing police records, said 85 people died in the June 2019 crackdown, while medics linked to the protesters said over 100 were killed.</p>.<p>A spokesman for the TMC acknowledged days after the killings that "mistakes happened" after it ordered commanders to "come up with a plan to disperse" the protesters.</p>.<p>An initial probe by military officials and prosecutors then found that some members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and other security forces were involved in the killings.</p>.<p>Adib, a veteran human rights lawyer, was named to lead the investigative committee in October last year by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.</p>.<p>The June 3 crackdown was the bloodiest episode during the extended protests, which resulted in several hundred deaths, according to various reports.</p>