A judiciary operating under the Sudanese army delivered the verdict on Sunday, convicting Daglo, widely known as Hemedti, and the other defendants of war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and attacks on civilians and public facilities, according to the state news agency SUNA.

Among those sentenced are Daglo's brother and deputy, Abdelrahim Hamdan Daglo, several RSF officers, and tribal leaders from Arab communities in West Darfur.

The case focuses on the killing of West Darfur Governor Khamis Abbakar in June 2023 after RSF fighters captured El-Geneina, the state capital. Abbakar was killed just hours after publicly accusing the RSF and allied militias of attacking civilians.

United Nations experts later concluded that between 10,000 and 15,000 people, most of them from the Massalit ethnic group, were killed during the violence in El-Geneina, one of the deadliest episodes of the conflict.

The RSF has repeatedly denied accusations of genocide and other war crimes.

The court said the case will now be referred to Sudan's Supreme Court for review. It also announced plans to pursue the arrest and extradition of those convicted through Interpol and other international channels.

The chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Daglo  had previously shared power after leading the 2021 military coup that derailed Sudan's transition to civilian rule before their alliance collapsed.

The war has since claimed tens of thousands of lives, forced more than 11 million people from their homes, and created what the United Nations has described as the world's largest displacement and hunger crises.