BREAKING NEWS: South Sudan CDF Gabriel Jok Riak Accused Of Manipulating GCM Verdict On General Buay Rolnyang
General Gabriel Jok Riak Makol taking oath of office at the state house on May 4th, 2018(Photo credit: file)
A time-sensitive battle in South Sudan’s General Court Martial this morning, Thursday, October 3rd, 2019 yet again puts the leadership of the Chief of South Sudan People Defense Forces, Gen. Gabriel Jok Riak, in the spotlight.
According to reports emerging from the Court, the CDF ordered the General Court Martial(GCM) to announce a verdict that has been kept under the table for over 4 months – waiting for the approval of the president.
This time the CDF wants the verdict to be announced and then presented to the Commander-in-Chief for approval.
“CDF has ordered the GCM to announce the verdict after that it would be taken to the president for confirmation.” Said the insiders.
The decision to announce the verdict was harshly criticized and rejected by the defense lawyers who cited lack of quorum, tribal manipulation, and violation of the SPLA Act, 2009.
What Prompted The Order?
According to the defense lawyers, the president of the GCM, Lt Gen Thiik, traveled to Bhar el Ghazal leaving Major General Atem Duot as the acting president of the GCM.
Like the CDF, Maj. Gen. Atem Duot is from Dinka Bor and a close ally to Gabriel Jok Riak which leaves defense lawyers believing that the rushed decision to announce the verdict that was never taken to president Kiir could have been manipulated by the CDF Jok Riak.
Another controversy the defense lawyers raised was that Maj. Gen. Atem Duot is a junior in terms of the military seniority to the accused Maj. Gen. Buay Rolnyang and therefore in accordance with the SPLA Act, a junior officer cannot announce such an important verdict.
The defense lawyers also questioned if the original verdict was presented to president Kiir or his office and how it came back to court without being approved.
Some concerned insiders believe that either Gen. Jok Riak or Atem must have kept the document in his house or must have withdrawn it from president Kiir’s office.
“Atem is from Bor and the legal advisor in the office of the president, he is from Bor too. They exploit the absence of court president General Thiik who forwarded the court case to the president for confirmation but when they knew that Thiik has traveled to Bhar El Ghazal, Jok withdrew the case file from the president office and gave it to Atem to announce the verdict even if it is not approved by the president, then the case file be returned to president office for approval again” Said one insider.
The defense lawyers reiterated lack of quorum saying that since the president and two other members of the GCM were not present, the other 4 members were not enough to announce the verdict.
In response to defense lawyers, Maj. Gen. Atem Duot threatened harsh punishment saying that he is not General Thiik but General Atem, the acting president.
“I’m not General Thiik, I’m General Atem the acting court president, and if you do not want me, I would recommend to Jok to form another GCM and your accused would be sentenced very harshly” Gen. Atem warns.
A previous Court Martial was dissolved because of two violations: 1, it was formed by Gen. Jok instead of president Kiir and 2, because the president of the GCM that was appointed by the CDF was a Brigadier General as opposed to a more senior general.
Facebook Comments