Prophet Abraham Chol has been in detention since July 2021. Photo: Curtesy

A special court in Juba has dropped several charges against religious leader Abraham Chol, but went on to indict him on charges of insulting the President and political interference.

Abraham Chol, 55 was initially charged with a subverting constitutional government, causing disaffection among police force or defense forces, publishing or communicating false statements that prejudicial to South Sudan, and undermining the authority of or insulting the President.

But the cleric now faces convictions for insulting the President and interfering into the political affairs of the country.

Latjor Kueth Jal, the head of the prosecution panel read out the court decision.

“Today, the court framed charges against the accused Abraham Chol, and the court also dropped some of our charges which is section 84-63-66-75 of the South Sudan penal act 2008”.

Meanwhile, four of Abraham Chol’s associates have been acquitted of all charges.

The defense lawyer of the religious leader, Deng John says, the court did not find any evidence against them.

“The court found that there is no evidence against the other four accused and they were discharged due to the lack of evidence according to section 226 of criminal procedure 2008.”

However, he confirmed the two charges framed against his client, Chol.

“The court charged the main accused Abraham Chol who was charged under section 76-202 which talked about insulting the president and the other religious leaders,” Deng said.

John says he and his colleagues told the court that they would bring witnesses to testify against the charges.

“We told the court we have four witnesses who will come before the court in the next session because the court says the religious leader has no right to intervene in the political affairs of the country.”

The next session is scheduled to take place on December 30 2022.