JUBA – The second court session in the case against Dr. Riek Machar and seven other co-accused SPLM-IO officials, has been adjourned to tomorrow, September 24, to give time for the panel of judges to study the defense and prosecution arguments on the question of jurisdiction.
This came after the prosecution team submitted their written response to the defense’s objection submitted on Monday, September 23, for the court to throw out the charges over jurisdiction issue.
Dr. Geri Raimondo, the lead defense lawyer, said the First Vice President and his co-accused are immune to trial in accordance with several provisions of the 2018 revitalized agreement.
Raimondo reaffirmed its stand that the Nasir incident is a matter of ceasefire violation that should have been investigated by the ceasefire monitor CTSAM-VM and peace monitor R-JMEC, which would then report to IGAD.
Therefore, Raimondo argued that Machar and co-accused can only be tried for any crime, by the yet-to-be established Hybrid Court which was mandated by the 2018 agreement.