The treason trial of South Sudan’s suspended First Vice President Riek Machar began on Monday under heavy security in the capital Juba, as his lawyer argued the court had no authority to hear the case because Machar retains vice-presidential immunity.
Machar, 70, has been under house arrest since March, a move that has stoked fears of a relapse into the 2013–2018 civil war between his largely Nuer loyalists and forces aligned with President Salva Kiir, a Dinka.
Prosecutors have charged Machar and 20 others with treason, murder and crimes against humanity over alleged links to raids by the Nuer-dominated White Army militia in the northeast earlier this year. Machar’s SPLM-IO party rejects the allegations.
Appearing in public for the first time since his detention, Machar wore a dark suit and cobalt-blue tie and sat behind black security bars at a special court set up in an events hall. Media access was restricted to the state broadcaster. Kiir suspended him by decree earlier this month as the charges were unveiled.
Machar’s lawyer, Geri Raimondo Legge, called the proceedings “unconstitutional, unlawful, illegal and void,” asking judges to dismiss the case and order Machar’s immediate release along with seven allies, including the petroleum minister.
Prosecutor Ajo Ony’Ohisa Igele dismissed the defence claims as “unfounded and weak.” The government accuses Machar of backing the White Army during March clashes in the northeastern town of Nasir that killed dozens of civilians and displaced more than 80,000 people.
Kiir and Machar have governed in a fragile unity arrangement under a peace deal that ended the last civil war, but their rivalry stretches back more than three decades.
