Lakes state MP accuses special court of applying excessive fines Article Comments (1) Email PrintSave --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Manyang Mayom June 10, 2011 (RUMBEK) - A fact finding committee of formed from representatives in Lakes State’s parliament has reported that a special court in Yirol West County has imposed fines of 10,000 Sudanese pounds (over $3,700) for a person found guilty of murder. Bol, the secretary of fact finding committee told the United Nations Mission in Sudan’s (UNMIS) Radio Miraya that the fines were not in line with Lakes State customary acts. The MP said “there is misinterpretation of law by special court in Yirol West County of Lakes state which is not working in conformity with provision of customary act which was passed by Lakes state parliament in 2010.” Bol affirmed that “the fine stipulated in the customary law is five thousand for person convicted of murder but special court of number one of Yirol West County had been collecting heavy fine of 10,000 Sudanese pounds which is not aligned with provision of Customary Law Act 2010 of Lakes state.” The fact finding committee which conducted the investigation recommended that the special court be headed by professional judge rather than chiefs. The Adhoc Committee also investigated the justice system and the unequal treatment of inmates at Yirol’s prison. Bol reported that relatives of the accused had in some cases been allowed to stand trial instead of the actual suspect. However the commissioner for Yirol Wesr Makur Kulang Liei, defended the justice system in his county. Kulang said that “we have done the best of our ability to capture the culprits, it is full responsibility of judiciary to apply law correctly. We do not have any mandate to tell judiciary to speed up work. They are judges and they are responsible on how law is applied on criminal and county authority is on standby to execute the orders immediately based on [the] judge[s] recommendation.” He also affirmed that prisoners in Yirol West County prison are being treated equally. "There is no injustice inside prisons services. There is no VIP part in this prisons only the issue here is that judges delayed cases a lot. We are saving these prisoners at wave of justice approach as well in favor of human rights." (ST) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
