Prosecutors at the Special Court in Juba said on Friday that their counter-application doesn’t seek to single out suspended First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar in the ongoing trial, but instead asks the court to clarify and apply the correct statutory procedure to all remaining defendants.
Lead prosecutor Ajo Ony’Ohisa made the argument during the 113th proceeding at Freedom Hall, following objections from the defence to the prosecution’s application.
Ohisa said the prosecution was not seeking to invalidate or reopen examinations of defendants that had already been completed, nor to subject Machar, the fifth accused, to different treatment.
“The Prosecution does not seek to invalidate or reopen the examinations already completed. Neither does it seek to single out the Fifth Accused for different treatment,” Ohisa told the court.
“It asks the Court to clarify and apply the correct statutory procedure prospectively and equally to all the remaining Accused Persons.”
The prosecution argued that its application was intended to ensure that the proper procedure was followed for defendants who had yet to undergo the relevant stage of the proceedings.
Ohisa referred to Section 197(1), which provides that:
“For the purpose of enabling the accused to explain any circumstances appearing in the evidence against him or her, the Court may at any stage of a trial, without a previous warning to the accused, put such questions to him or her as the Court considers necessary.”
He also cited the provision requiring the court to question the accused generally on the case after prosecution witnesses have been examined and before the accused is called upon to present a defence.
Ohisa said the prosecution’s request should not be interpreted as an attempt to subject any defendant to unequal treatment.
“The relevant equality is equality under the law, not equality in the repetition of an error,” he said.
The prosecution asked the court to reject what Ohisa described as the defence’s “erroneous interpretation” of the counter-application.
Ohisa argued that the examination contemplated under Section 197(1), read together with Section 224(2)(e), is a court-controlled process in which the court puts material circumstances arising from the prosecution evidence to the accused.
The prosecution asked the court to direct that the remaining defendants be examined prospectively in accordance with Sections 197(1) and 224(2)(e), and to grant any further orders it considers just and appropriate.
The defence, led by Dr. Geri Raimondo Legge, acknowledged receipt of the prosecution’s counter-application but objected to the prosecution’s use of a rejoinder, which it described as misleading.
Judge Stephen Simon adjourned the proceedings until Monday, Sept. 7, 2026, when the court is expected to rule on the defence’s application seeking clarification of the defendants’ constitutional right to legal representation, as well as the prosecution’s counter-application.
Machar and seven other defendants are on trial over violence in Nasir, Upper Nile State, in March 2025, during which government forces suffered heavy casualties.
The defendants face charges including treason, murder, conspiracy, terrorism, destruction of public property and crimes against humanity.
Prosecutors allege that forces aligned with Machar’s Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO), together with the White Army militia, killed 257 South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) soldiers, including military commander General David Majur Dak, during an attack on a military garrison in Nasir.
The prosecution has also alleged that military equipment worth about $58 million was destroyed or seized during the fighting.
Machar and the other defendants have denied the charges.
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