{"id":48894,"date":"2026-10-15T13:11:55","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T11:11:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/?p=48894"},"modified":"2026-10-15T13:13:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T11:13:45","slug":"special-court-dr-machar-challenges-his-position-as-fifth-accused","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/15\/special-court-dr-machar-challenges-his-position-as-fifth-accused\/","title":{"rendered":"SPECIAL COURT: Dr Machar challenges his position as fifth accused"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Former First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar has challenged his designation as the fifth accused, alleging political motives behind the decision.<\/p>\n

Presenting his defense during the 121st session on Wednesday, Dr Machar said his legal team had repeatedly sought an explanation for his position among the eight accused but received no satisfactory answer.<\/p>\n

He argued that statements by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and documents related to the court\u2019s formation had listed him first. He maintained that constitutional provisions should take precedence over police records.<\/p>\n

Machar described his designation as a political plan to try him alongside junior colleagues in the SPLM\/A-IO rather than in accordance with his constitutional status as First Vice President.<\/p>\n

He said he would later address the constitutional provisions and legal procedures he believes should have governed his trial.<\/p>\n

Machar linked the case to the failed attempt to replace the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) with the Tumaini Consensus during peace talks in Nairobi in December 2024.<\/p>\n

He alleged that the failure was followed by the abandonment of the peace agreement\u2019s implementation and attacks against the SPLM\/A-IO in Western Equatoria and Western Bahr el Ghazal between January and February 2025, before the Nasir incident on March 3\u20134.<\/p>\n

He also alleged that the peace agreement, the amended Constitution, and the Electoral Law had been changed unconstitutionally.<\/p>\n

Machar further claimed that the transitional government was dissolved and replaced by a caretaker administration on September 22, 2026, ahead of elections scheduled for December 22, which he described as a sham.<\/p>\n

The session also featured a dispute over the examination of the accused. Defense counsel Dr. Geri Raimondo cited Sections 224(1) and 128(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure 2008, arguing that the accused should testify without interference.<\/p>\n

Geri rejected the characterisation of Machar\u2019s presentation as a political rally, arguing that the prosecution\u2019s comments misrepresented the law.<\/p>\n

Prosecution representative Ajo Ohisa accused the defense of misleading the court and the public. He said his remarks were intended to remind the accused and defense counsel to follow the law and court procedures.<\/p>\n

Machar maintained that the trial was political, describing it as a confrontation between the SPLM-IG and SPLM\/A-IO. He said videos he intended to present would expose what he alleged were the political motives behind the proceedings.<\/p>\n

The defense argued that presenting the videos formed part of Machar\u2019s testimony and did not require a separate application.<\/p>\n

The prosecution disputed the defense\u2019s account of an earlier ruling, insisting that no such ruling had been made.<\/p>\n

The defense reiterated its request for the court to take charge of the proceedings.<\/p>\n

The court adjourned the session to Monday, October 19, 2026, when the judges will decide on the request.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Yiep Joseph Former First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar has challenged his designation as the fifth accused, alleging political motives behind the decision. Presenting his defense during the 121st session on Wednesday, Dr Machar said his legal team had repeatedly sought an explanation for his position among the eight[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":48895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48894","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\/10\/Dr-Machar-challenges-his-position-as-fifth-accused.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48894","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=48894"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48896,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48894\/revisions\/48896"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}