Two senior officers of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) have been sentenced to seven years of imprisonment in Ruweng Administrative Area.

The officers, Brig. Gen. Alek Yai Guen and Lt. Col. Monykoang Kiakol were sentenced by a mobile court on Monday after finding them guilty of torturing and amputating the limbs of a teenage boy.

Atem Mayiik Manyiel, 19, found his saddening plight over a lost cellphone belonging to the two officers, who arrested and tortured him early in May 2021. The ordeal resulted in the amputation of both his arms later in June.

According to Ruweng Minister of Information, James Arop Ayuel, the two officers were also directed to pay 24 herds of cattle as reparation to the victim.

“The verdict has already been issued. Those two soldiers, the brigadier general, and the lieutenant colonel were [taken to prison for seven years each]; then they were also ordered to pay for 24 cows, and I think it’s done through customary law,” Arop was quoted by Eye Radio as saying.

A student of Rumbek University, Kuol Mathubier, and a friend of the victim told The City Review on Wednesday that Mr Manyiel has been traumatised and behaved strangely following the announcement of the verdict on Monday.

“For months, we have been in communication. I noticed him as an early riser because he used to call me at 5 am and sometimes 6 am, but [that day of the verdict] he was in bed until 8 am, ” said Mathubier.

According to Mathubier, the teenager was not satisfied with the verdict given the status of the disability inflicted on him by the officers compared to the price of a phone.

“He was speaking to me in a low tone and in low spirits. He says he has been hoping for more punishment for the men who wrongly tortured him which led to him losing both arms,”

“Much as I tried to comfort him, the boy went mute, something he has never done since we got connected. He said 24 cows are nothing compared to losing both arms,” Mathubier narrated.