BENTIU – Hundreds of people staged a peaceful demonstration in Unity State’s displacement camp on Thursday, demanding the release of eight SPLM/A-IO officials including Dr. Riek Machar, who are indicted on serious charges of murder, treason, and crimes against humanity.
The political detainees have been under legal proceedings since appearing in court for the first time in Juba, on September 22. They are accused of masterminding the March 2025 clashes between the army and local youths in Nasir County, which killed hundreds of troops, including commander Gen. Majur Dak.
The group has dismissed the charges as political witch-hunt, insisting that the incident is a matter of ceasefire violation that should have been addressed by peace observers.
However, civilians in Bentiu, the capital of Machar’s home state, turned out in big numbers on Thursday to demonstrate in support of the opposition leader, holding posters that dismiss the charges as illegal and contrary to the 2018 peace deal.
The IDPs, forced into the camp by floods and the 2013 conflict, are calling on the national government to disband the court and engage in dialogue, or else establish the Hybrid Court stipulated in the peace deal to address crimes committed during the war.
“We don’t want any further conflict, but we want to see the country at peace. We need Hybrid court to be established for the root cause of the South Sudan conflict,” said one protestor.
The defense team of the indicted officials has spent the last three days of court appearance to argue that the special panel of judges constituted by the President of the Supreme Court of South Sudan, lack jurisdiction to try the First Vice President.
The court will rule on Monday, September 29, on a number of objections from both sides of the case, including the illegibility of lawyers.
