May 14, 2019(Nyamilepedia) — On May 7th, 2019, South Sudan’s General Court Martial, had one of its senior military generals, Lt. Gen. Santino Deng Wol, testified as a witness against the accused, Maj. Gen. Stephen Buay Rolnyang, whose trial commenced in January this year.
Gen. Santino was the Deputy Chief of Defense for Administration when Maj. Gen. Stephen Buay Rolnyang was attacked and arrested in May 2017.
According to Gen. Buay, who testified two weeks earlier, it was Lt. Gen. Santino Deng Wol, who gave him permission to visit his home village of Mayom in Northen Liech State; however, Santino presented a different story when he testified last Tuesday.
The Lieutenant General, who hails from Aweil, claims that he gave Gen. Buay permission to visit his home village on condition that he should first report to Juba before proceeding to Northern Liech/Unity State.
Maj. Gen. Buay has, however, denies knowledge of being required to travel to Juba before traveling to Mayom and therefore asks the GCM to get the MTN Network to produce the audio or text of their conversation.
“Gen. Buay requested permission to go home but I told him to come to Juba first but he left for his home without my permission” Lt. Gen. Santino Deng Wol said.
The GCM, which seems to be more interested to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused had committed elements of misconduct, disobedient or intent to rebel against the government, is now waiting for more witnesses to testify.
Although the commander of ground forces, Maj. Gen. Mathew Puljang, has testified and claimed that he was attacked first, the next witnesses, who are expected to testify include the junior officers, who carried out the attacks and ambushes, and as well as those who were arrested alongside Stephen Buay.
