{"id":45891,"date":"2026-07-04T15:12:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T13:12:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/?p=45891"},"modified":"2026-07-06T15:17:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T13:17:38","slug":"special-court-adjourns-after-judge-falls-sick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/04\/special-court-adjourns-after-judge-falls-sick\/","title":{"rendered":"Special Court adjourns after judge falls sick"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Yiep Joseph<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The trial of suspended First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar and his co-accused was adjourned after one of the three judges was absent due to sickness.<\/p>\n

The Friday 94th session resumed; however, due to the absence of Judge Isaac Pur Majak due to a health-related issue, it was adjourned.<\/p>\n

The adjournment came during the 94th session of the proceedings, which had been scheduled for the court to deliver its ruling on a prosecution application seeking to have the remaining accused submit their defense in writing rather than through oral testimony.<\/p>\n

The prosecution argued that written submissions would help expedite the proceedings, saying oral presentations had contributed to repeated delays in the hearing.<\/p>\n

Defense lawyers opposed the application, maintaining that the accused have the right to present their defense orally before the court.<\/p>\n

However, the panel was unable to deliver its ruling after Judge Majak was reported sick, forcing the court to postpone the session.<\/p>\n

The proceeding was adjourned to Wednesday 8 July 2026, when the judges will announce their decision on the prosecution application.<\/p>\n

Dr. Riek Machar has been in detention since March 2025 following heightened political and security tensions that culminated in his arrest by government authorities.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege that he and several co-accused bear criminal responsibilities for acts linked to the violence in Nasir County, Upper Nile State, including charges relating to incitement, undermining constitutional order, and other offenses under South Sudanese law.<\/p>\n

The defense has consistently rejected the allegations, arguing that the charges are politically motivated and lack sufficient evidence.<\/p>\n

Throughout the proceedings, the court has heard testimony from prosecution witnesses while defense lawyers have challenged both the evidence presented and the legal basis of the charges.<\/p>\n

The case has been closely monitored by political parties, civil society organisations, regional bodies, and international partners, who have called for due process, judicial independence, and a fair, transparent, and impartial trial in accordance with South Sudan’s laws and international legal standards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Yiep Joseph The trial of suspended First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar and his co-accused was adjourned after one of the three judges was absent due to sickness. The Friday 94th session resumed; however, due to the absence of Judge Isaac Pur Majak due to a health-related issue, it[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":45292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-news","category-politics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Judges-during-one-of-the-sessions-courtesy-photo.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45891"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45892,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45891\/revisions\/45892"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}