Supporters of South Sudan's former vice-president, Riek Machar, condemned on Friday the death in detention of one of his bodyguards, saying 100 more of Machar's allies had been tortured.
Last week, the government of President Salva Kiir charged Machar with murder, treason and crimes against humanity and stripped him of his position as first vice-president in the unity government.
The move has fuelled fears of fresh conflict in the young east African nation, almost seven years after the end of a civil war between Machar and Kiir that claimed 400,000 lives between 2013 and 2018.
"We have learned with profound sorrow the death of Captain Luka Gathok Nyuon, (a party) officer and a political detainee," Machar's opposition SPLA-IO party said in a statement on X on Friday.
It said Luka died at 7:00 am on Thursday in a facility in the capital, Juba, run by Kiir's elite guard.
"Captain Luka's death is attributed to the abject condition (of detention) exacerbated by the systematic denial of medical care by the government in Juba," it continued.
The SPLA-IO also accused Kiir's "fascist-led regime" of continuing to "unlawfully detain" more than 100 "officials and officers" from Machar's entourage "under very harsh conditions including torture, starvation and denial of medical care".
The South Sudanese army said on Facebook it would make a statement when it had more information about Luka's case.
Machar's secretary, Puok Both Baluang, told AFP that 38-year-old Luka was one of the former vice-president's bodyguards.
Machar's impeachment on September 11 effectively torpedoed the peace agreement that ended the civil war in 2018 by enshrining a power-sharing deal between him and Kiir.
The former vice-president is accused of coordinating an attack on a military base by the White Army, a militia group from his ethnic Nuer community.
The government says more than 250 soldiers died in the attack in March.
Machar was arrested and placed under house arrest shortly after. Seven co-defendants are currently in detention.
His party called on Monday for his supporters to seek regime change in response to plans to put their leader on trial.
Last week, Machar's lawyers said they had visited him and three other detainees for the first time since his arrest, observing that "all of the accused are in good health and maintain stable morale".
South Sudan, one of the poorest countries in the world, has suffered chronic instability since it became independent from Sudan in 2011.
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