JUBA – Just hours after the South Sudan government indicted several SPLM-IO leaders including Dr. Riek Machar on serious charges, it now appears the case erroneously quoted sections of the penal code that do not relate to the alleged crimes.
Late on Thursday, President Salva Kiir suspended Machar and Petroleum Minister Puot Kang Chol from office to allow the legal proceedings against them.
This followed the conclusion of an investigation on the fighting in Nasir County, which indicted the SPLM-IO leader on serious charges of murder, treason and crimes against humanity.
Newly appointed Justice Minister Joseph Geng Akech told journalists in a late briefing on Thursday that Dr. Machar will soon be put on trial to answer for the charges which also include conspiracy and financing terrorism.
But SPLM-IO Acting Chairman Oyet Nathaniel told a BBC interview on Friday the charges against Machar and other detainees were cooked up and amount to abrogation of the 2018 peace deal.
South Sudanese lawyer Akot Makur Chuot reacted to the government statement, stating the Ministry of Justice has already weakened its case at prima facie by quoting wrong sections of the law (Penal Code Act, 2008).
Makur said section 186 doesn’t deal with crimes against humanity (attacks against civilians) but rather deals with ‘Fouling Water of Public Well or Reservoir’, while section334 also deals with house breaking by night.
“This is pathetic. One would say, this case is partly dead on arrival. Warning: avoid using AI to draft charges,” he said in a social media statement.
The allegations against Machar and his allies originated from the events surrounding the outbreak of deadly violence in Nasir County in Upper Nile State in March 2025.
An administrative military deployment coordinated by SSPDF and SPLM/A-IO forces into Nasir town that turned into a disagreement. It quickly escalated into armed clashes, consequently killing many and displacing tens of thousands of civilians.
The incident triggered a serious political and security crisis which was followed by the arrest and detention in Juba of several SPLM-IO political leaders including national MPs and ministers – the house arrest of Machar – a signatory to the 2018 peace deal.
The government’s decision to prosecute Machar, who has been in arbitrary house arrest since April, has been viewed as suspicious by some members of the public, especially as it followed the unexplained replacement of the country’s chief justice and minister of justice.
It also comes days after the appointment of Advocate Sarah Peter Nyot, the wife of Vice President of Dr. Benjamin Bol Mel, who was recently appointed as Counsel General in the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs.