Diệm's government put Ba Cụt on trial for treason, under Article 146 of the Military Code of the Republic of Vietnam. Diệm spoke out and accused Ba Cụt of rallying to and defecting from the central government four times from 1945 to 1954, and that at his peak in mid-1954, Ba Cụt commanded 3500 troops armed with 3200 firearms. Ba Cụt was also accused of collaborating with the communists. The government submitted that the charge of treason was established by a series of attacks on VNA personnel, officers and vehicles from July 1954 until Ba Cụt's capture. The government prosecutor sought the death penalty and tendered petitions signed by residents of the Mekong Delta and southwestern Vietnam calling for the military destruction of Ba Cụt's militants. However, according to the historian Jessica Chapman, these petitions were organised by the government and heavily publicised in the Diêm-controlled media, and not representative of public opinion.