A U.S. District Court has indicted prominent South Sudanese activist Peter Bial Ajak on charges of conspiring to purchase and illegally export millions of dollars worth of weapons.
He was indicted along with his compatriot Abraham Chol Kichi.
They are accused of conspiring to purchase weapons, including automatic weapons, grenade launchers, Stinger missile systems, hand grenades, and other controlled exports from the United States to South Sudan.
He did not comment on this allegation.
Arms sales to South Sudan are prohibited by two laws of the United States.
South Sudan is also subject to a UN Security Council arms embargo, first imposed in 2018 and extended several times since then.
The court said that as part of an illegal arms smuggling scheme, the defendants agreed to contracts for weapons and related items worth $4 million (£3.5 million).
They also requested “false contracts” of similar amounts for items such as consulting services and communications equipment for use in refugee camps, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Ajak, a Harvard University academic and vocal critic of President Salva Kiir’s government, was arrested in 2018 and sentenced to two years in prison.
He was pardoned by the President in January 2020.
South Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not yet commented on the two arrests.