April 27th 2019 (Nyamilepedia) – A court in Juba has dismissed charges against prominent South Sudan advocate, Peter Biar Ajak, but announced that he will face fresh charges including one in which he is accused of disturbing peace and causing insecurity among the public.
Biar was arrested on July 28th 2018 at Juba international airport while traveling to Norther Bahr El Ghazal state capital Aweil for a Red Army function and later charged with treason.
On Friday, a Juba-based court threw out charges including treason against the economist but said he still must face trial on new charges of “disturbing the peace” over interviews he gave to foreign media while in prison.
“The previous charges have been rubbished and dropped by the court because the prosecution couldn’t prove each of those charges,” Philip Anyang, Biar’s lawyer, said after the judge in Juba dismissed treason and announced new ones.
The judge said Ajak along other detainees who were then inside prison participated in interviews with news organizations that let to insecurity within the public.
“Biar and the other detainees inside the National Security Prison participated in media interviews that have created fear and insecurity in the public which is against the law,” the judge told the special tribunal at the High Court.
Biar’s lawyer dismissed the charges and said his client was innocent of all charges, which could fetch between six months and three years imprisonment.
