{"id":47160,"date":"2026-08-22T12:01:03","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T10:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/?p=47160"},"modified":"2026-08-24T13:24:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T11:24:32","slug":"defense-calls-for-clarity-on-accused-persons-right-to-choose-advocates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/22\/defense-calls-for-clarity-on-accused-persons-right-to-choose-advocates\/","title":{"rendered":"Defense calls for clarity on accused persons\u2019 right to choose advocates"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The defense has called on a special court to clarify and protect the constitutional right of the eight accused persons to choose their own advocates.<\/p>\n

The request was made on Friday during Session 110, which had been scheduled for the examination of the first accused.<\/p>\n

The defense filed an application seeking clarification after what it described as repeated observations during the proceedings suggesting that accused persons who had lost confidence in their lawyers could replace them and seek alternative legal representation.<\/p>\n

The defense argued that the accused persons had already selected and instructed their current advocates before the lawyers\u2019 names were submitted to the special court on September 22, 2025.<\/p>\n

It told the court that none of the eight accused persons had requested the replacement of their advocates on grounds of loss of confidence or indicated that they wanted to terminate their legal instructions.<\/p>\n

The defense relied on Article 19(3) and Article 19(7) of the Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan, 2011, as amended.<\/p>\n

It argued that Article 19(7) protects an accused person\u2019s right to defend himself or herself through a lawyer of his or her own choice.<\/p>\n

The defense further submitted that while the court has a duty to ensure a fair and effective trial, that responsibility should be exercised consistently with an accused person\u2019s right to select legal representation.<\/p>\n

It asked the court to clarify that, unless an accused person expressly requests a change of advocate or circumstances recognised by law require intervention, the accused person\u2019s choice of lawyer should be respected.<\/p>\n

The defense also asked the court to identify and address any specific concerns it may have regarding the effectiveness or propriety of the current legal representation in accordance with the Constitution and applicable law.<\/p>\n

In support of its application, the defense referred to the African Charter on Human and Peoples\u2019 Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, principles of the African Commission, and the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers.<\/p>\n

Among its prayers, the defense asked the court to recognise that the accused persons had selected their current advocates and that none had requested their replacement because of loss of confidence.<\/p>\n

The prosecution indicated that it was ready to respond to the application orally.<\/p>\n

However, following a 20-minute break, the judge directed the prosecution to submit its response in writing.<\/p>\n

During the proceedings, Kur Lual also informed the court that the defense team had not met with accused No. 5 alone and indicated that the defense would proceed with its submission as previously intended.<\/p>\n

The court subsequently adjourned the proceedings until Monday, August 24, 2026, when the prosecution\u2019s written response is expected to be considered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Yiep Joseph The defense has called on a special court to clarify and protect the constitutional right of the eight accused persons to choose their own advocates. The request was made on Friday during Session 110, which had been scheduled for the examination of the first accused. The defense[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":47161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47160","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\/08\/Suspended-First-Vice-President-Dr-Riek-Machar-and-the-co-accused-during-one-of-the-court-sessions-courtesy-photo.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47160","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=47160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47162,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47160\/revisions\/47162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}