{"id":46533,"date":"2026-08-04T17:09:58","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T15:09:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/?p=46533"},"modified":"2026-08-04T18:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T16:08:11","slug":"dr-machar-set-to-present-defense-co-accused-rejects-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/04\/dr-machar-set-to-present-defense-co-accused-rejects-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr Machar set to present defense, co-accused rejects charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The fifth accused, Dr. Riek Machar, is expected to present his defense statement before the Special Court on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, as proceedings in the Nasir incident trial continue.<\/p>\n

The announcement came after the fourth accused, Gabriel Duop Lam, concluded his defense statement during Monday\u2019s 103rd session of the court.<\/p>\n

The special court judge Stephen Simon said the next sitting, Session No. 104, would continue with the examination of the fourth accused before the court proceeds to hear the defense statement of Dr. Machar.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Court will continue examining the fourth accused, after which it will hear the defense statement of the fifth accused, Dr. Riek Machar,\u201d Judge James Alala Deng said.<\/p>\n

During his appearance before the court, Gabriel Duop Lam rejected all allegations linking him to the Nasir incident, arguing that the prosecution had failed to provide evidence proving his involvement.<\/p>\n

He told the court that he did not receive any operational order from the SPLM\/A-IO Commander-in-Chief directing an attack on SSPDF forces in Nasir and denied coordinating with Maj. Gen. Dhiling Keak or other SPLM\/A-IO officers as alleged by the prosecution.<\/p>\n

The fourth accused further dismissed claims that he discussed funding for the mobilisation of local youth in Nasir County with the first, second, and fifth accused persons.<\/p>\n

Gabriel argued that investigators and prosecution witnesses had not presented documentary or forensic evidence, including attack orders, voice recordings, photographs, or video footage, to support the charges against him.<\/p>\n

He described the allegations as politically motivated and based on what he termed conspiracy theories, insisting that they did not reflect his military conduct, professionalism, or national character.<\/p>\n

In his defense, Gabriel maintained that the Nasir incident was not a coordinated operation by the SPLM\/A-IO leadership but rather a confrontation involving local youth and SSPDF forces.<\/p>\n

He said the SPLM\/A-IO leadership had made efforts to prevent violence and accused opponents of the peace process of using the incident to undermine the Revitalised Peace Agreement.<\/p>\n

Gabriel also told the court that he was not involved in the events in Nasir because, at the time, he was sitting his final-year examinations at the University of Juba after receiving approval from the Chief of Defence Forces.<\/p>\n

He said that while he attended some military meetings during that period, they focused on security issues and the planned deployment of the Necessary Unified Forces (NUF) to Nasir.<\/p>\n

The fourth accused also rejected claims concerning his role as Acting Chief of Defence Forces, stating that he had already handed command back to Gen. Paul Nang before troops departed for Nasir.<\/p>\n

He told the court that Gen. Paul Nang resumed command on February 18, 2025, and that he briefed him on the security situation in Nasir and other national security matters.<\/p>\n

In his closing remarks, Gabriel urged the Special Court to deliver an independent and fair judgment without political interference.<\/p>\n

He also requested the court to restore his rights and order his release, citing the impact of his detention on his family, including difficulties faced by his children in accessing education and medical care.<\/p>\n

The Special Court will reconvene on Wednesday for Session No. 104, where it will continue examining the fourth accused before hearing Dr. Riek Machar\u2019s defense statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Yiep Joseph The fifth accused, Dr. Riek Machar, is expected to present his defense statement before the Special Court on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, as proceedings in the Nasir incident trial continue. The announcement came after the fourth accused, Gabriel Duop Lam, concluded his defense statement during Monday\u2019s 103rd[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":46439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46533","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\/07\/Suspended-First-Vice-President-Dr.-Riek-Machar-and-the-co-accused-during-one-of-the-court-sessions-courtesy-photo-.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46533","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=46533"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46553,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46533\/revisions\/46553"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}