Prisoners Report Of Torture in Rumbek Central
Prisoners within the Rumbek Central County correctional facility have reported cases of torture happening at the prison. 18 February 2013 By Gabriel Mayom RUMBEK, 18 February 2013 [Gurtong] –The facility has more than 1,000 suspects arrested for several accusations ranging from murder to adultery and minor cases with some high record of arbitrary arrests carried out by government officials. Most of the arrested people did not have an advocate or defence lawyers. “Most of us arrested here have not stand before judge - we are being subjected to daily beating - we ask to get ourselves defence lawyer but they don’t grant us permission,” said one of the prisoners who talked to the media from the facility. William Marial Agok, Lakes state prison deputy director said that “We have taken administrative measure against those soldiers who torture prisoners were served with warning letter and administrative measure is being undertaken. The prison warden decides alone and beat up one prisoner with 25 lashes. The nine suspects who received the beating remain in prison awaiting prosecution,” said William Marial Agok, the state prison deputy director. The unnamed warden is said to have caned the suspects who were brought in last Friday on allegations of raiding cows from communities in Warrap State. Agok said that “the warden has been given a written warning and has been transferred to another section within the same 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.
