South Sudan judge convicts 10 troops for 2016 rampage

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.

An investigation by the Associated Press in 2016 revealed the extent of the crimes and spurred the South Sudanese government and the United Nations to investigate.

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 told AP.

"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 Santo.

The judge ordered USD 2 million to be paid to the Terrain Hotel for damages, USD 4,000 to each of five rape victims, USD 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 USD 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."
This trial can be a precedent for rape as war crimes."
She said the case shows "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 hopes the verdict sends a message that violence and impunity are not "business as usual, and that this trial opens the way for other trials."