Dispute over court jurisdiction: Trial of Machar, seven others postponed to next week
By Denis Ejulu
The trial of South Sudan’s suspended First Vice President Riek Machar and seven of his co-accused was on Wednesday postponed for the third time till Sept.29.
James Alala Deng, the lead judge in the trial of the opposition leaders, who are facing charges of treason, murder, and crimes against humanity adjourned court to allow prosecutors enough time to respond to earlier arguments by the defense team on the special court’s lack of jurisdiction to try the case.
The trial of Machar and members of his party Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-in opposition (SPLM/A-IO) began on Sept.22.
“It was the view of this court to conduct these trials on daily basis but we realized this is not giving time or chance to one of the parties to properly prepare for the next session. Secondly, for the court also to have time to easily look into long written pleadings by the parties. Thirdly, the public at large is to be given chance to work normally,” Alala said in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.
During the trial the prosecutors had also called for the disqualification of two of the six defense lawyers representing Machar and his co-accused, citing their expired legal licenses which render them unable to attend court.
Machar was placed under house arrest in late March following a deadly attack on an army base in Nasir County, Upper Nile State, by the White Army militia, allegedly linked to the SPLM/A-IO that Machar leads.
The attack left more than 250 South Sudan People’s Defense Forces soldiers killed.
