South Sudan soldiers jailed for murder and rape in 2016 hotel raid

Military court awards compensation for foreign aid workers and family of slain Sudanese journalist

South Sudanese soldiers listen to the verdict being delivered at their trial in a military courtroom in Juba, South Sudan Thursday, Sept. 6, 2018. A military judge found 10 soldiers guilty of rape and murder in a violent rampage at the Terrain Hotel in Juba in 2016, when dozens of soldiers broke into the compound, killed a local journalist and gang-raped five international aid workers. (AP Photo)
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A military judge in South Sudan on Thursday sentenced 10 soldiers to jail for a 2016 rampage in which a local journalist was killed and five international aid workers were gang-raped.

The case was widely seen as a test of South Sudan's ability to hold its soldiers to account during the five-year civil war here, and diplomats and activists welcomed the outcome. However, they said many other victims of violations have yet to see justice and urged the government to hold more trials.

Brig Gen Knight Briano convicted and sentenced two soldiers to life in prison for the murder of a South Sudanese journalist. The judge found three other soldiers guilty of raping foreign aid workers, four guilty of sexual harassment and one guilty of theft and armed robbery. They received sentences ranging from seven to 14 years in jail.

Another soldier was acquitted for lack of evidence. Still another accused soldier died in jail during the trial.

The convicted soldiers were stripped of their uniforms before being transported by truck to prison.

In July 2016, dozens of soldiers broke into the Terrain Hotel compound in Juba and began their rampage, while UN peacekeepers nearby did not respond to pleas for help.

The army hopes the trial will act as a deterrent to other soldiers while reassuring civilians that anyone who commits a crime will be punished, army spokesman Col Domic Chol Santo said.

"This is important because the army has been accused of a great deal of rape, sexual harassment and all forms of violations, and it's not part of our doctrine," said Col Santo.

The judge ordered US$2 million (Dh7.35m) to be paid to the Terrain Hotel for damages, $4,000 to each of five rape victims, $1,000 to an aid worker who was shot in the leg and 51 cattle to the family of the journalist who was killed (each cattle is worth roughly $600).

Many were pleased by the verdicts.

"I am very happy! I won...we won...women won!" exclaimed a rape victim who had returned to South Sudan to testify in the trial. "It is important to fight for our rights and never give up. We women have to still continue to fight for our rights that still in 2018 are trampled."

The woman said she is "happy for all women in South Sudan and other parts of the world who don't have voice. This trial can be a precedent for rape as war crimes."

"The process was far from perfect, but shows that justice can be done where there is political will to do so," said Jehanne Henry, associate director in Africa for Human Rights Watch. She said the case showed "how far South Sudan has to go to provide real justice and accountability for atrocities committed in this war".

France's ambassador to South Sudan, Jean-Yves Roux, said he hoped the verdict sent a message that violence and impunity were not "business as usual, and that this trial opens the way for other trials."

Some observers had criticised the fact that only low-ranked soldiers were tried, but their commanders were not.

"We continue to push for commanders to be held responsible and not only for the low-level people to be picked on," said Andrew Clapham of the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan.

"That's the only way we're going to be able to prevent things in the future — if the commanders feel that there is some accountability and punishment."

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