The highly anticipated criminal trial of South Sudan’s suspended Vice President Riek Machar opened in Juba on Monday, September 22, 2025, marking the first time the embattled leader has been seen in public since his confinement under house arrest in March. Machar appeared in court inside a metal cage alongside seven co-defendants as the special tribunal began proceedings broadcast live on national television.
President Salva Kiir suspended Machar earlier this month after prosecutors filed sweeping criminal charges linked to an attack on a government military garrison earlier in the year. Machar and his associates now face a litany of accusations, including treason, crimes against humanity, murder, conspiracy, terrorism, and the destruction of both public and military property.
The opening session quickly turned contentious as Machar’s defense team challenged the legitimacy of the trial. One of his lawyers criticized the tribunal, referring to it as “an incompetent court” and insisting it lacked proper jurisdiction to prosecute the case. Defense attorneys argued that bringing criminal charges against Machar undermines the fragile framework of the 2018 peace accord he signed with Kiir, an agreement that ended years of brutal conflict in which nearly 400,000 South Sudanese lost their lives.
That peace deal serves as the cornerstone of the country’s transitional government, with Machar appointed as First Vice President under its terms. His lawyers maintain that, by virtue of the agreement, he still legally holds office, and any attempt to remove or prosecute him outside of that framework risks reigniting national instability. They further contended that the trial contradicts the spirit of reconciliation promoted by regional leaders and international mediators who brokered the accord.
The trial has placed South Sudan in a precarious position. While Kiir’s administration frames the charges as a matter of justice and accountability, Machar’s supporters view them as politically motivated, aimed at weakening his influence and consolidating Kiir’s grip on power. Analysts warn that the proceedings could deepen divisions between rival factions, particularly as government troops continue to clash with armed groups believed to be aligned with Machar.
The presiding judges adjourned the case until Tuesday, leaving the nation and the international community awaiting further developments. The trial is expected to be a defining moment for South Sudan’s fragile democracy and could shape the future of the power-sharing arrangement that has kept the country from sliding back into all-out war.
Kiir and Machar share a long and tumultuous political history, having once fought side by side as rebel leaders in the struggle that led to South Sudan’s independence from Sudan in 2011. But since then, their rivalry has repeatedly destabilized the country, fueled by political ambitions, deep ethnic divisions, and competing military loyalties. Kiir hails from the Dinka, the largest ethnic group, while Machar belongs to the Nuer, the second-largest—fault lines that continue to influence political dynamics across the nation.
As the trial resumes, many fear its outcome will determine not only Machar’s political fate but also whether South Sudan can maintain a fragile peace or slide back into a cycle of conflict that has already brought years of suffering to its people.
