South Sudan soldiers sentenced for 2016 murder, rape

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A South Sudanese military court sentenced 10 soldiers to prison for the rape of foreign aid workers and the murder of a journalist in an assault on a hotel in Juba in 2016 and ordered government to compensate the victims.

The attack at the Terrain Hotel in the capital was one of the worst on foreign aid workers since South Sudan plunged into conflict in 2013.

Eleven soldiers were on trial with one released due to the lack of charges against him.

The court said government must pay $4,000 to each rape victim.

It also ordered government to pay 51 head of cattle to relatives of the local journalist killed in the raid. The hotel owner will receive compensation for the destruction and looting of his property.

The case was widely seen as a test of will by the government of President Salva Kiir to bring accountability in the military that has long drawn accusations of widespread rights violations and a culture of impunity.
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