The Special Court convened to investigate the events in Wau in December 2012 (see related coverage below) on Monday acquitted five indictees for the massacre which claimed dozens of lives late last year, sentencing 14 others to various prison terms.

Radio Tamazuj learned yesterday from reliable legal sources who preferred to remain anonymous, that the Court had issued verdicts for the 19 defendants. The Court’s inception followed protests in the town of Wau town against a state government decision to transfer the county headquarters to a new location in Baggari Payam.

Sources close to the convicted defendants told Radio Tamazuj that they intend to submit appeals against the sentences on the basis that the trial was unfair.

File photo: Convicts

Related coverage:

11 men sentenced to hang for killings near Wau (9 June 2013)

S. Sudan reporters and MPs arrested in Wau (3 January 2013)

Breaking: Armed clashes in Wau town (9 December)