{"id":45052,"date":"2026-06-02T14:36:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T12:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/?p=45052"},"modified":"2026-06-02T14:36:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T12:36:14","slug":"puot-asks-court-to-acquit-him-co-accused-over-lack-of-evidence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/02\/puot-asks-court-to-acquit-him-co-accused-over-lack-of-evidence\/","title":{"rendered":"Puot asks court to acquit him, co-accused over lack of evidence"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Yiep Joseph<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Suspended Petroleum Minister Puot Kang Chol on Monday asked the court to acquit him and his co-accused, arguing that prosecutors had failed to prove the charges against them beyond a reasonable doubt.<\/p>\n

Addressing the court during the 82nd hearing session, Puot concluded his defense by maintaining that the case against him was politically motivated and unsupported by credible evidence.<\/p>\n

“I trust that Your Lordships will see through the evident deficiencies and underlying motives and, in so doing, reaffirm the fundamental principle that the Judiciary cannot and must not be used as an instrument for the prosecution of political rivals,” Puot said.<\/p>\n

Puot denied allegations linking him to the March 2025 attack on the SSPDF garrison in Nasir, stating that he was neither present in the area nor in communication with SPLA-IO forces or the White Army, whom prosecutors accuse of carrying out the assault.<\/p>\n

He urged the judges to dismiss all charges against him and the other accused persons.<\/p>\n

“I therefore humbly pray that this honorable court finds that the prosecution has failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, acquits me and my co-accused of all charges, and thereby affirms that the courts of the Republic of South Sudan remain guardians of justice and not instruments of political expediency,” he said.<\/p>\n

The former minister further claimed that the arrests of himself and seven others were intended to undermine the implementation of the Revitalised Peace Agreement signed in 2018.<\/p>\n

“Your Lordships, the purpose behind our detention is to obstruct the implementation of the peace agreement of 2018 and to hinder the implementation of the remaining provisions of the agreement,” he argued.<\/p>\n

Puot also challenged the prosecution’s evidence, alleging that digital communications presented before the court had been manipulated to implicate the accused.<\/p>\n

Following several hours of submissions from the first accused, Presiding Judge Dr. James Alala Deng adjourned the proceedings until Wednesday, June 3, when the bench is expected to question Puot on aspects of his defense presentation.<\/p>\n

Puot and his co-accused are facing charges of murder, conspiracy, terrorism, treason, destruction of public property, and crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege that SPLA-IO forces allied with the White Army attacked the SSPDF garrison in Nasir in March 2025, killing 257 soldiers, including commander David Majur Dak, and destroying or seizing military equipment valued at approximately USD 58 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Yiep Joseph Suspended Petroleum Minister Puot Kang Chol on Monday asked the court to acquit him and his co-accused, arguing that prosecutors had failed to prove the charges against them beyond a reasonable doubt. Addressing the court during the 82nd hearing session, Puot concluded his defense by maintaining that[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":45053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-news","category-politics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Puot-Kang-and-other-co-accused-during-one-of-the-court-sessions-courtesy-photo.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45052"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45054,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45052\/revisions\/45054"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}