Suspended Petroleum Minister Puot Kang Chuol has told a special court in Juba that National Security Service (NSS) officers subjected him and fellow detainees to humiliation and degrading treatment, including referring to them as “dogs.”

Kang, the first accused to testify during the court’s 80th session at Freedom Hall on Friday, said the detainees were verbally abused in a manner designed to strip them of their dignity.

“I would like to inform this honorable special court that we have undergone enough humiliation the system could think of, including but not limited to being referred to as ‘dog’,” Kang told the court.

He alleged that an NSS officer wrote “7 dogs jibu” — an Arabic phrase meaning “bring the seven dogs” — on judiciary vehicles used to transport the detainees.

“We raised this to the former Director General of the National Security Service when he came to visit the prison. He formed a committee and it was confirmed that it was written ‘7 dogs,’ and it is seven of us, with the exception of Dr. Riek Machar Teny, who they always carry in his car,” he said.

Presiding Judge James Alala Deng responded that the matter should have been formally brought to the court’s attention earlier.

“The wording that you are dogs should have been brought to the attention of the court officially so that we can address it,” Deng said.

Kang also rejected earlier claims by lead prosecutor Ajo Ony’Ohisa that his mobile phone was used as a tool to commit crimes.

“I would like to inform this honorable special court that my phone is not a tool for committing crime but rather a tool for praising peace and stability in this country,” he said.

He added that the phone was used to coordinate the implementation of the peace agreement that the government and prosecution now seek to undermine.

Kang claimed NSS officers seized his phone, obtained the password through intimidation, and used it to generate messages.

He further challenged the digital forensic reports presented against the accused, alleging they were prepared by the NSS and prosecutors and merely rubber-stamped by an expert witness.

Judge Deng adjourned the hearing until Monday, May 25, for continuation of Kang’s testimony.

Kang is one of eight defendants facing charges of treason, crimes against humanity, murder, terrorism, and destruction of property over the March 2025 attack on an SSPDF base in Nasir, Upper Nile State.

The co-defendants include suspended First Vice President Riek Machar, Mam Pal Dhuor, Gatwech Lam Puoch, Lt. Gen. Gabriel Duop Lam, Camilo Gatmai Kel, Mading Yak Riek, and Dominic Gatgok Riek.

Machar remains under house arrest while the others are detained by the NSS.

Prosecutors allege that SPLA-IO forces, allied with the White Army militia, killed 257 SSPDF soldiers, including Gen. David Majur Dak, and destroyed or seized military equipment worth about $58 million.