The General Military Court Martial sitting in Yei, Central Equatoria State, on Monday convicted 15 SSPDF soldiers for murder, rape, and causing serious bodily injury.
The military court’s session in Yei ran from 2 to 27 June and was presided over by Major General Michael Koung.
The court found 8 soldiers guilty of murder and sentenced them to between 5 and 7 years in prison, with time already served, and a fine of 51 head of cattle as blood compensation each or the equivalent in South Sudanese Pounds (SSP). 4 other soldiers found guilty of rape are to serve a jail term of 5 years each and were ordered to monetarily compensate their victims.
A soldier who was convicted for causing bodily harm to a 9-year-old boy was sentenced to serve a 3-year jail term and pay for the treatment of his victim. 2 other soldiers were ordered to pay monetary compensation to their victims for also causing bodily harm. The monetary compensations ranged from 200,00 to slightly over 1 million SSP, depending on the crime.
According to Colonel Michael Machar, SSPDF’s civil-military relations director in Yei, the military court will continue to work in Yei so as to instill discipline among the officers and men of the SSPDF.
“Today (Monday) is the general verdict and 8 murder cases, 4 rape cases, and 3 serious injury cases were concluded which gives us a total of 15 cases,” he said.
“We do not know the future but if the crimes continue, then more courts will come in. This is the instilling of discipline in the army all over the world,” he added.
Meanwhile, the commissioner of Yei River County, Aggrey Cyrus Kanyikwa, said the local authorities are going to request for another session of the General Military Court Martial to sit in Yei to try high-ranking SSPDF officers.
“We are going to request for another court-martial and this time we will start will the army generals because I already have a list,” he said. “If you are a soldier, be a role model to the civilians by doing good things.
Commissioner Kanyikwa castigated some people who he said wanted to politicize the work of the military court yet it was dispensing justice.
Bida Peter, a Yei resident who was among the mammoth crowd that turned up to attend the court’s final verdict, said the sentences were commensurate to the crimes committed by the soldiers.
“To me, the ruling is not bad because the ruling depends on the crime one has committed,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mama Hawa Adam, the chairperson of the women association in Yei River County, appealed to the government to think about the welfare of the soldiers and regularly transfer them to minimize such crimes.
“We as the women of Yei, think that the thing that is pushing our soldiers to rape, loot, and fight is drugs. The other issue is lack of food so we are appealing to the government to think about the welfare of the soldiers,” she said. “And there should be the transfer of soldiers from one location to the other so that they do not commit such crimes.”
An estimated 2000 residents of Yei attended the final verdicts of the military court at the SSPDF barracks in Yei town.
All the convicted soldiers were stripped of their ranks, dismissed from SSPDF, and are to serve their sentences in the civil prison.
Most of the murder cases committed by the SSPDF soldiers happened in the areas of Lasu and Ombaci in Yei River County.