The treason trial of South Sudan’s suspended First Vice President Riek Machar, began on Monday under tight security with his lawyer arguing that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.
Machar’s detention under house arrest since March has ignited fears of a renewal of a devastating 2013-2018 civil war between his ethnic Nuer forces and Dinka fighters loyal to his longtime rival President Salva Kiir.
Machar’s SPLM-IO party rejects the charges against him and 20 others which include murder, treason and crimes against humanity for their alleged involvement in raids by the Nuer-dominated White Army militia in the northeast earlier this year.
At the special court, Machar appeared in a dark suit and cobalt blue tie behind a row of black bars, the first time he has been seen in public since his house arrest.
Kiir suspended him by decree as the charges were revealed.
Media access to the court, which was held in an event space often used as a wedding and concert venue, was restricted to the state broadcaster.
Geri Raimondo Legge, Machar’s lawyer, said that the court was “unconstitutional, unlawful, illegal and void” because, he argued, Machar retained the immunity of a sitting vice president.
The petroleum minister plus seven others were also charged alongside Machar.
“(We pray the court) order the immediate discharge of His Excellency Dr Riek Machar Teny, the first vice president of the republic of South Sudan, and the seven accused persons for being arrested and detained unconstitutionally,” Legge told the court.
Prosecutor Ajo Ony’Ohisa Igele called the defence’s arguments unfounded and weak.
The government had accused Machar of supporting the White Army, an ethnic militia largely comprising Nuer youths, during clashes with the army in the northeastern town of Nasir in March.
Dozens of civilians were killed and over 80,000 people displaced.
Kiir and Machar, both in their 70s, served in a fragile unity government as part of a peace deal that ended the civil war.
A former bush rebel leader, Machar has had a turbulent relationship with Kiir going back more than three decades.
