20 Released From Rumbek Prison After Making Payments to Guards, Report Of Torture
Lakes state government authorities have released 20 youth who were arbitrary arrested in cases related to the January inter-communal violence after they made payments to prison guards to secure their release. 29 April 2013 By Gabriel Mayom RUMBEK, 29 April 2013 (Gurtong) -The young men were released on Friday without facing charges but they claimed being tortured and mistreated while in custody. “We secured our released from military prison by some of us paying an amount of 1, 500 South Sudanese Pounds (SSP) or 500 SSP to SPLA soldiers who are guarding the military prison in Langcok,” said Dut Meen Malok who was released from the Lakes State military prison in Langcok located in Northern part of Rumbek Central County. “A least we have seen who is our government. We suffer for nothing but we will wait for a good time to answer them at the right time in right manner,” he said. He said that there were 108 in one prison and all of them were tortured and denied sanitation facilities and drinking water. “Lakes State government acted without knowing that we are their people who brought them into power. Although there was inter-communal violence, it is not all of us who fought each another. There are only four people who fought and they were arrested with us – like 104 inmates did not fight in Awachlual cattle camp clashes,” he said. “One person affected seriously is Magang Maker Mading who was beaten inside prison with about 5,000 lashes and now he is paralyzed and being hospitalize in Rumbek hospital,” he said. On Friday, MPs and activist told the the head of the United Nations in South Sudan of widespread human rights abuses and constitutional issues with the term limit of the new caretaker military governor. Last Week, five young men were set free from the secret jail by National Intelligent security service (NISS) in Rumbek. Inmates at the Rumbek facility have reported of torture and abuse at the prison. In 2012, the Human Rights Watch launched an investigative report depicting the status of human rights in South Sudan prisons. The 105-page report titled “Prison Is Not for Me: Arbitrary Detention in South Sudan", documents violations of due process rights, patterns of wrongful deprivation of liberty, and the harsh, unacceptable prison conditions in which detainees live. During the launch, South Sudan Vice President Dr Riek Machar said that the report will help his government in soliciting for suitable solutions to address the challenges facing the prisons department. The research was carried out in twelve of the country’s 79 prisons during a 10-month period before and after South Sudan’s independence in areas with the largest prison populations. It revealed that, a third of South Sudan's prison population of approximately 6,000 has not been convicted of any offense or in some cases even charged with one, but are detained, often for long periods, waiting for police, prosecutors, and judges to process their cases. The vast majority of detainees have no legal representation, because they cannot afford a lawyer and South Sudan has no functioning legal aid system, adding that Judges pass long sentences and even condemn to death people who, without legal assistance, were unable to understand the nature of charges against them or to call and prepare witnesses in their defense. The government pointed out infrastructural challenges, insecurity, budget constraints and other political problems that hinder government’s efforts to prioritise the improvement of the prisons in the country. Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 250 inmates and a range of justice officials, correctional officers, police, prosecutors, and traditional authorities. Posted in: Home, Governance -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
