Specifics of purported security threats directed at South Sudanese opposition figure Riek Machar, his seven fellow defendants and their defence counsel have come to light after the court handling the case suspended its sessions on Friday to permit additional inquiries into the issues raised.
Several individuals with knowledge of the situation said the claimed dangers involve a scheme to engineer a road collision affecting defence team members, as well as a separate claim that a toxic agent might be applied to seats occupied by the accused and their lawyers within the courtroom.
These assertions have not been independently confirmed.
The security matters were officially brought before the court on Friday, when Machar’s defence counsel presented a written application during the Special Court’s 115th session.
Presiding Judge James Alala Deng directed the defence against reading the application aloud in open court, yet accepted the written document.
The court subsequently postponed the hearings until 23 September, indicating that further probes would examine the security worries.
One senior individual acquainted with the matter stated that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) provided a security convoy that transported the defence lawyers to court on Friday and escorted them back to their destinations following the session.
“There was a plot to cause a car accident to the defence team, but that plot has now been blocked because the lawyers will now be taken to the court and escorted by a convoy by the authorities,” the source said.
The same source further claimed that a poisonous substance could be sprayed onto seats used by the accused and defence lawyers inside the courtroom.
Citing these security worries, the defence lawyers avoided their customary seating positions during Friday’s hearing, according to the source.
A separate source indicated that Machar and the remaining accused were made aware of the security issues during the previous week’s session.
That source dismissed circulating social media claims of a planned bomb attack on the accused and their legal team, clarifying that the concerns centre instead on an alleged intention to employ a poisonous or chemical substance.
The claim remains under additional investigation, the source noted.
“There is a plot to harm the defence team by an accident or a poisonous substance against the defence and the accused,” the source said.
Sources added that the CID recently held discussions with defence team members and proposed security escorts along with protection measures.
The adjournment grants authorities time to examine the claims outlined in the defence application prior to the resumption of proceedings on 23 September.
Machar and the seven co-defendants stand trial in relation to violence that took place in Nasir, Upper Nile State, in March 2025, in which government forces incurred substantial losses.
The accusations against them encompass treason, murder, conspiracy, terrorism, destruction of public property and crimes against humanity.
Prosecutors maintain that units connected to Machar’s Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO), operating alongside the White Army militia, killed 257 soldiers of the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF), among them military commander General David Majur Dak, during an assault on a military garrison in Nasir.
Prosecutors have additionally claimed that military equipment valued at roughly $58 million was destroyed or seized amid the clashes.
Machar and the other defendants have rejected the accusations.
