Focus on the Agreement is a series of reports broadcast on Radio Tamazuj to explain the contents of the peace deal signed in August 2015 between South Sudan's warring parties.
In our previous episode we discussed the role of the Commission for Truth, Reconciliation and Healing during the transitional period. Today we will look at the role of the Hybrid Court for South Sudan.
According to Chapter 5, Article 3 of the agreement the Hybrid Court for South Sudan will investigate people responsible for commiting war crimes since 15 December 2015.
The chairperson of the Commission of the African Union will decide where the court will be based. Additionally, most of the judges of the court will come from other African countries, not from South Sudan. Some of the judges may be South Sudanese but the African Union will select and appoint the judges of the court and also the prosecutors and other officials of the court.
The court may try crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other serious crimes including crimes of sexual violence. The Hybrid Court for South Sudan will be independent from South Sudan's supreme court and it will carry out its own investigations. The decisions of the hybrid court may not be overturned by any of the national courts of South Sudan.
In our next episode we will continue to discuss the hybrid court and what the peace agreement says about the way that it will work.
Read also our previous 'Explaining S Sudan's peace deal' (22): Transitional justice mechanisms