SSPDF officers convicted of atrocities against civilians in Yei River County. | 27th June 2022 | Office of the Yei River Commissioner.

The military court in Yei River County has convicted eighteen soldiers and two civilians of atrocities, including murder and rape in the area.

The five-member court martial found eleven soldiers guilty of murder and sentenced them to five years imprisonment.

They were also fined 51 cows each in blood compensation to relatives of the victims.

The court martial had then stripped off the convicted soldiers of their military rankings and dismissed them from the army.

Yei County Commissioner, Aggrey Cyrus said the court ruled that in the event of failure to pay the cows, the individuals will face life imprisonment.

“They were sentenced to pay fifty-one cows as blood compensation. Failure to pay, they will live in jail forever and again they are also sentenced to five years imprisonment without any bail,” Cyrus said.

Early this month, the military court started hearing on the murder and rape cases allegedly perpetrated by SSPDF soldiers in the area.

The court, which was established by the army headquarters in 2020, sentenced the soldiers for committing crimes against civilians, during the conflict.

Commissioner Cyrus also confirmed five of the soldiers convicted of rape, have been sentenced to jail terms ranging from 7 to 10 years, and fined between 200 and 225 thousand pounds.

Another soldier was sentenced to three-years behind bars for looting 150,000 South Sudanese pounds.

Meanwhile, two civilians were found guilty of killing soldiers and collaborating with some soldiers to commit murder.

Commissioner Aggrey Cyrus applauds the court for ensuring justice is served to victims in the area.

“The people of Yei River County have been crying to see justice, they has been always the question of impunity that has been perpetrated by soldiers,

“So, this shows the proof that no person is above the law and shows a proof that even impunity cannot be condoned in the ranks of the soldiers, in the ranks of the military,” the commissioner said.

Commissioner Cyrus could not provide the names of the individuals.