South Sudan charges 7 people with insurgency

Juba, March 25, 2019 (SSNA) — South Sudan National Security has charged seven people with an insurgency, sabotage, and possession of weapons with intent to stage an uprising, documents presented to the court on Monday show.

The government claims that Peter Biar Ajak, a government critic, analyst, and Ph.D. student at Cambridge University, conspired with other detainees to cause an uprising against the government. Businessman Kerbino Agok Wol is one of those accused. The government asserts that Kerbino is the one who caused a prison riot at the Blue House in October last year and then talked about it with the US-based Voice of America (VOA) while in jail.

Government prosecutors also claim in the documents that they have audio proving that the accused involved in criminal activities.

Peter Biar was arrested in July last year at the Juba International Airport. South Sudan’s government has a history of prosecuting its critics, political rivals, and those critical of its policies.

Lawyers for the accused call the charges “fabricated” and accused some elements within the national security of abusing their powers by targetting people critical of government policies.