File: Minister of Information, Michael Makuei addresses media in Juba. PHOTO: Joakino Francis/Eye Radio

The government has denied involvement in the reported extra-judicial killing of its critics Dong Samuel Luak and Aggrey Idri.

According to a UN Panel of Experts on South Sudan report seen by Eye Radio, the two men were executed by Internal Security Bureau agents at a Luri NS facility three days after they were brought to Juba.

Dong and Aggrey Idri – who were kidnapped in Nairobi, Kenya, on January 23 and 24, 2017 respectively, and then allegedly flown to Juba on a chartered plane on January 27.

Campaign groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are calling for an independent and effective investigation into the reported extra-judicial killing of two government critics.

However, the spokesperson of the government of South Sudan cum minister of information says any investigation should start in Kenya where the two men were kidnapped.

“It’s not the government of South Sudan that apprehended them; it’s the Kenyan government. So, if any investigation [is to be conducted], investigate Kenya, not us,” Michael Makuei told Eye Radio Wednesday.

“These are reversed situations; these targeted misleading questions are not acceptable.”

He said the only person who was apprehended by the government of South Sudan is James Gatdet – who was convicted by a Juba court and later pardoned by the President last year.

“The only person….was Gatdet whom we released. If these people were brought to us, we would have released them,” Makuei argued.