Court Adjourns Trial Of Wau Violence Suspects
The court sitting in Western Bahr el Ghazal state adjourned the trial of 11 youth arrested in connection to last year’s violent protests in Wau. 27 February 2013 James Deng Dimo WAU, 26 February 2013 [Gurtong] – The first hearing was adjourned after two advocates appealed for more time to go through charges filed against the suspects. The first hearing was held without the two advocates and the suspects have no advocates or lawyers to represent them in court. Some suspects told to judges that they were forced to confess and accept on what they did not do. Part of the evidence produced before the court included machetes and petrol bombs allegedly used by the suspects during the violence. On February 19, three judges arrived from Juba to preside over the court hearings, procedures, and rule out the cases. Last week, Amnesty International released a report that the government has detained scores of opposition figures without issuing arrest warrants or giving them access to lawyers since unrest broke out in December 2012. South Sudan has struggled to establish the rule of law since it split from Sudan in July in 2011 following a long civil war that left the new country awash with weapons. Ten people were killed in the town of Wau in December when security forces opened fire on a protest against the relocation of a local council headquarters. At least 13 others were killed during unrest that followed the shooting. Since the violence, the government of Bahr El Ghazal state has detained 100 people, among them opposition figures, civil society activists, journalists and security officers, Amnesty International said in a report. "Arrests of perceived opponents of the government continue to be carried out," the group said. "While some of these arrests appear to have a legitimate basis, evidence gathered by Amnesty International shows that many of the arrests were arbitrary and contravene provisions in national and international law," it said. The failure of the authorities to properly investigate the violence has increased tensions in Wau, Amnesty said. The Western Bahr el Ghazal State Governor, Rizik Hassan Zacharia criticized the report and said that the report is unfair and biased. The governor also criticized the report which he says ‘claims’ the demonstration was peaceful. He challenged the report arguing that the demonstration was not legal and that the demonstrators had not obtained a document from police. 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.
