By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Authorities on Monday commenced the trial of South Sudan’s suspended First Vice President Riek Machar in connection with allegations of treason.
Riek who appeared in court on Monday under tight security in the capital Juba, along with his legal representatives argued that the court lacks jurisdiction to hear the case.
At the special court, Machar appeared in a dark suit in the public for the first time since March when he has been under house arrest.
His detention under house arrest has raised fears of a possible renewal of a devastating 2013-2018 civil war between his ethnic Nuer forces and Dinka fighters loyal to his longtime rival, President Salva Kiir.
Machar’s SPLM-IO party rejects the charges against him and 20 others which include murder, treason and crimes against humanity for their alleged involvement in raids by the Nuer-dominated White Army militia in the northeast earlier this year.
During the raid which resulted in clashes with the army in the northeastern town of Nasir in March, dozens of civilians were killed and over 80,000 people displaced.
The government insists that Machar is supporting the White Army, an ethnic militia largely comprising Nuer youths, same ethnic group with the embattled first Vice President.
Kiir suspended him by decree earlier this month as the charges were revealed.
Geri Raimondo Legge, Machar’s lawyer, said that the court was “unconstitutional, unlawful, illegal and void”, arguing that Machar retained the immunity of a sitting Vic President.
Seven of Machar’s allies were charged alongside him earlier this month, including the petroleum minister.
“(We pray the court) order the immediate discharge of His Excellency Dr Riek Machar Teny, the first vice president of the republic of South Sudan, and the seven accused persons for being arrested and detained unconstitutionally,” Legge told the court.
Prosecutor Ajo Ony’Ohisa Igele called the defence’s arguments “unfounded and weak.”
Kiir and Machar, both in their 70s, served in a fragile unity government as part of a peace deal that ended the civil war.
A former bush rebel leader, Machar has had a turbulent relationship with Kiir going back more than three decades.
