Sudan’s criminal justice system is different in many ways from proceedings in the United States. Granville’s family had to hire a Sudanese lawyer to make sure their interests are protected in the trial. The family has also been told that, if the men are convicted of murder, the judge basically has two options— to sentence them to death by firing squad, or to send them to prison for a maximum of 10 years. “The whole thing is crazy,” said Granville’s mother, Jane, of South Buffalo. “This is a horrible time for us.” She said it has been difficult to get accurate information about a trial that is taking place 6,500 miles away from Buffalo and has not been steadily covered by the news media. David C. Gavazzi, 34, a close family friend who gave the eulogy at Granville’s funeral, shares her frustration. Gavazzi opposes the death penalty, opposes the use of torture on suspects and is certain Granville felt the same way. “John was a very selfless man who fell in love with Africa and was trying to make life better for people there,” he said. “This trial is never going to bring John back. . . . I can only hope that the best effort is given to bringing the men responsible to justice in the most appropriate way possible.”
Trial continue is Sudan in murder of Cameroon RPCV John Granville
Buffalo area lost three to terror attacks this year
Terrorism hit home this year as three Western New Yorkers — a diplomat, a high school student and a security contractor — were killed in separate attacks across the globe
By Dan Herbeck
News Staff Reporter
[Excerpt]
“A very selfless man”
From everything investigators can determine, Granville was killed in Sudan for one reason — his nationality.
“Our understanding is that he was targeted not because he was John Granville, but because he was an American,” Flynn said.
A former Peace Corps volunteer, Granville was a diplomat with the U. S. Agency for International Development. He was working to implement a peace treaty in Sudan, an African country with a brutal history of civil war and genocide.
His driver, Abdelrahman Abbas, was taking Granville home from a New Year’s Eve party at the home of a British diplomat. They were killed by a team of gunmen who cut off their car.
According to testimony in a Sudanese trial that began in late August, the gunmen had the specific intent of killing someone from Great Britain or the United States.
“We were looking for an American’s house, when at last we saw the American’s car,” one of the defendants said in a videotaped confession shown at the nonjury trial.
According to media reports from Sudan, the defendant said he and others in his group shot at the men in the car for about 15 seconds. Five bullets struck Granville, police said.
A defense attorney in the case has claimed that police used torture to get confessions from the defendants.
Sudan’s criminal justice system is different in many ways from proceedings in the United States. Granville’s family had to hire a Sudanese lawyer to make sure their interests are protected in the trial.
The family has also been told that, if the men are convicted of murder, the judge basically has two options— to sentence them to death by firing squad, or to send them to prison for a maximum of 10 years.
“The whole thing is crazy,” said Granville’s mother, Jane, of South Buffalo. “This is a horrible time for us.”
She said it has been difficult to get accurate information about a trial that is taking place 6,500 miles away from Buffalo and has not been steadily covered by the news media.
David C. Gavazzi, 34, a close family friend who gave the eulogy at Granville’s funeral, shares her frustration.
Gavazzi opposes the death penalty, opposes the use of torture on suspects and is certain Granville felt the same way.
“John was a very selfless man who fell in love with Africa and was trying to make life better for people there,” he said. “This trial is never going to bring John back. . . . I can only hope that the best effort is given to bringing the men responsible to justice in the most appropriate way possible.”
Officials at Sudan’s embassy in Washington declined to comment on the trial.
