Nine men who are detained by National Security Service, including peace advocate Peter Biar Ajak and businessman Kerbino Wol are scheduled to make an appearance in court on Thursday.
Ajak, a critic of both the government and opposition groups, was detained at Juba Airport in July 2018, while Kerbino Wol Agok was arrested in April 27, 2018.
Both are facing treason charges.
A source told Radio Tamazuj that hearings in cases against the nine men will start on Thursday morning. “The High Court in Juba will hear the cases that will be presented by the prosecution team and investigators,” he said.
Meanwhile, the South Sudan Civil Society Forum (SSCSF), a coalition of several civil society groups, confirmed that the detainees will appear in court on Thursday morning.
In a Wednesday statement, the civil society coalition urged the country’s judiciary to allow public access to the court proceedings.
“We believe that public scrutiny is critical to ensure conformity of the trial with the South Sudan constitution and with international human rights standards,” partly reads the statement.
Earlier this month, the South Sudan government was summonsed to appear before the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) in a case where it is accused of arbitrary detention of businessman Kerbino Wol.
The Catholic Bishops in South Sudan have recently urged President Salva Kiir to release all detainees for confidence building purposes.
In September 2018, South Sudanese government signed a peace deal with opposition groups to end the civil war which has uprooted a quarter of the country’s 12 million population.