JUBA – The National Salvation Front (NAS) has condemned the treason and murder charges filed against Riek Machar and seven senior SPLM-IO officials, calling them “ethnic persecution disguised as justice.”
Earlier this week, South Sudan’s Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs announced that Machar and his co-accused would face trial over the March 2025 incident in Nasir, following months of investigation.
Authorities allege that the SPLM-IO chairman, who has been suspended as First Vice President, coordinated with the White Army in an attack that killed Lt. Gen. David Majur Dak and his bodyguards.
NAS, which remains outside the Revitalized Peace Agreement, strongly rejected the accusations in a statement issued by Daniel Lee, the NAS Commissioner of Information, Mass Communications, and Cultural Affairs, on Saturday.
“The National Salvation Front categorically rejects the Ministry of Justice’s politically motivated charges against Dr. Riek Machar Teny and a list of Nuer leaders accused of masterminding the Nasir incident of March 3, 2025,” the statement read.
The group argued that the move reflects neither impartial justice nor genuine concern for victims. “It is a continuation of the ethnic engineering policy that has defined the Juba regime since 2013, where justice is manipulated to criminalise entire South Sudanese communities—particularly the Nuer in this instance—while eliminating their political leadership,” NAS charged.
The statement noted that all eight accused are Nuer, which, according to NAS, reinforces “a well-documented pattern of scapegoating one ethnic group while shielding pro-regime militias and commanders who committed mass atrocities in Juba, Bor, Malakal, and Wau.”
NAS further argued that if the government respected justice, it would begin by holding accountable those behind the 2013 killings, the July 2016 Terrain Hotel attack, and other atrocities. Instead, the group said, the regime selectively pursues cases that brand Nuer leaders as “terrorists” while granting immunity to regime-backed forces.
The opposition movement also accused the government of undermining due process. “The regime boasts of due process, yet the facts betray them. Eighty-three suspects were interrogated, seventy-six released for lack of evidence. This alone shows the investigation lacked credibility,” the statement said.
It added that prosecutors presented “no clear command responsibility linking Dr. Machar to the White Army, a community defence force known for acting independently.”
According to NAS, the charges of murder, treason, terrorism, and crimes against humanity are designed “not for legal precision but to create maximum political stigma.”
The group also questioned the independence of the judiciary, stating that public statements from the Ministry of Justice had already declared Machar guilty, thereby undermining the constitutional presumption of innocence. Sudan Post