Court Adjourns Session Over Inconsistencies in Expert’s Report

By Yiep Joseph
The special court trying suspended First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar and seven co-accused has adjourned its session over inconsistencies in an expert’s report.
The last prosecution witness, Ratlhogo Peter Calvin, a digital forensic expert who investigated the electronic equipment collected from the accused, presented a report to the court during the previous session.
However, during the presentation of the document to the court, the defense team later discovered irregularities after they were given a chance to go through the report.
Meanwhile, during the 51st session on Friday, the judges cited a similar concern, noting inconsistencies in the document presented to them.
The judges then requested to sit down with both the defense and prosecution teams to arrange the document presented by the digital expert.
Presiding Judge Dr. James Alala Deng adjourned the session to Monday, citing that the files submitted by the prosecution witness were improperly arranged.
He added that the adjournment would give the court time to organize the documents and pave the way for the upcoming session meant for the cross-examination of the last prosecution witness, the expert.
On his part, Judge Stephen Simon Isaac, a member of the three-judge panel, added that the court had adjourned proceedings to Monday, February 16, 2026, to allow time for reviewing and rearranging the documents.
“This session was fixed for the defence to cross-examine the witness, but for some reason, we can’t go ahead with cross-examination because of some complication in the document,” Stephen said.
Deng John Deng, Machar’s lawyer, previously said there were discrepancies in the pages and content between the original document and the copy.
On Friday, during the 48th court session, a South African digital forensic investigator and expert, Ratlhogo Peter Calvin, displayed WhatsApp conversations extracted from the phones of some of the accused.
During the sessions, the witness concluded with a display of WhatsApp communications extracted for the first accused, Puot Kang and other accused
Dr. Machar and his SPLA-IO co-accused face charges including murder, conspiracy, terrorism, treason, destruction of public property, and crimes against humanity.
Prosecutors allege that SPLA-IO forces, allied with the White Army, killed 257 soldiers, including commander David Majur Dak, and destroyed or seized military equipment valued at about $58 million.