Legitimacy crisis hits Special Court in Machar’s trial

JUBA – A legitimacy dispute has erupted over the Special Court handling the trial of First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar and seven co-accused, after the defense team on Monday challenged the legality and jurisdiction of the tribunal, describing it as “unlawful” and “expired.”

During the court’s ninth session held at Freedom Hall in Juba, Machar’s defense lawyers filed a motion arguing that the Special Court—established by a ministerial order on September 1st—had exceeded its one-month mandate, which officially ran from September 8th to October 8th.

“The court became jurisdictionally incompetent and unlawful upon the expiration of its designated period,” the defense team stated, calling for the immediate release of all SPLM/A-IO detainees, including the First Vice President himself.

According to Puok Both Baluang, Acting Press Secretary in Machar’s office, the Special Court did not comment on the defense’s request for release but adjourned the session to October 15th to seek an extension of its mandate from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Government (SPLM-IG).

The SPLM/A-IO has repeatedly dismissed the tribunal as a politically motivated body aimed at undermining the Revitalized Peace Agreement. In a statement shared by Baluang, the group described the court as a “mechanism created to abrogate the peace deal and conduct a political witch-hunt against Dr. Riek Machar and the SPLM/A-IO.”

The Special Court on the Nasir Incident was constituted to try Machar and other senior SPLM/A-IO figures over the March 2025 fighting in Nasir, which led to the killing of SSPDF commander Lt. Gen. Majur Dak and over 200 soldiers.

Machar’s camp insists that the court’s creation outside the framework of the peace agreement violates both the spirit and letter of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS), which outlines specific mechanisms for addressing accountability and reconciliation.

The court’s adjournment to allow for a mandate extension further fuels questions about its legitimacy and independence, deepening an already tense political standoff between the SPLM-IG and SPLM/A-IO factions within the unity government.