(Reuters) -The treason trial of South Sudan’s suspended First Vice President Riek Machar opened on Monday under tight security in the capital Juba, with his lawyer arguing the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.

Machar’s detention under house arrest since March has ignited fears of a renewal of a devastating 2013-2018 civil war between his ethnic Nuer forces and Dinka fighters loyal to his longtime rival President Salva Kiir.

Machar’s SPLM-IO party rejects the charges against him and 20 others which include murder, treason and crimes against humanity for their alleged involvement in raids by the Nuer-dominated White Army militia in the northeast earlier this year.

At the special court, Machar appeared in a dark suit and cobalt blue tie behind a row of black bars, the first time

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