Dozens of SSPDF soldiers were convicted to different jail terms for crimes against civilians in Yei County, Central Equatoria State. |2020. | File photo.

A court martial in Yei River County has started hearing on eleven cases of murder and six rape cases allegedly perpetrated by SSPDF soldiers in the area.

The military court was established by the SSPDF general headquarters in 2020 to try soldiers accused of committing crimes against civilians, in the County.

But since then, the court martial has not executed any trials.

However, this week, the army sent a team of judges to the area to kick-start the trial.

Aggrey Cyrus, who is the Commissioner of Yei River County of Central Equatoria State commends the SSPDF headquarters for the steps it is undertaking to bring wrongdoers to justice.

“The judges arrived, yesterday we launched the court martial in the barracks yesterday. Today they resumed their proceedings this morning. Eleven cases for murder, six cases for rape, there are cases for rape and there are cases for robbery,” said Cyrus.

Commissioner Cyrus said the judges started the legal process by reviewing 9 previous cases pending trial since 2016.

It will then move to cases including robbery that were committed in the after-math of the 2018 peace deal.

However, the commissioner did not disclose the names of the suspects.

In October 2020, the court-martial in Yei sentenced 24 SSPDF soldiers to prison for committing various crimes.

The combatants were arrested and convicted of committing crimes such as sexual violence between 2019 and 2020 in areas of Yei River, Central Equatoria State.

They are also charged with rape, looting, killing, among others, at a time of heightened insecurities caused by crackdown on insurgencies of holdout groups.