Rumbek Chiefs Released Without Charge The Lakes State government has announced the release of three chiefs arrested in mid November for allegedly questioning the Lakes state military caretaker governor’s disparaging remarks on Malek payam women. 08 December 2013
*By Gabriel Mayom* *RUMBEK, 08 December 2013 (Gurtong) – *On Friday, Rumbek Central County Commissioner Abraham Mayen Kuc announced the release without providing details but the commissioner has earlier insisted that the chiefs were detained because they failed to arrest a murder suspect. The chiefs were allegedly arrested when they questioned the governor for making disparaging remarks about the Malek payam women. (READ: Three Rumbek Central County Chiefs Arrested<http://www.gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ctl/ArticleView/mid/519/articleId/13875/Three-Rumbek-Central-County-Chiefs-Arrested.aspx> ) Rumbek Central Commissioner Abraham Meen Kuc explained that the chiefs initially failed to hand in suspects accused of crimes in their communities but have now promised to hand over the men. “We have released them, and they are going to fulfil the mandate given to them by local government. The reason for their arrest was the fact that it is connected with security concerns. So they failed to hand in the culprits who killed people,” Mayen said. However, Mayen did not provide the details on where the clashes took place and how many youth are suspected to have killed people. Chief Mabor Alier, who was taken to Langcok Military prison, told the press that they were detained and set free without charges being levelled against them. “The military custody guards told us in the morning that we are free – they told us you go home and continue your normal duties - they did not tell us what mistake we had committed,” said Alier. Alier alleged that they were beaten and mistreated during detention at Langcok military prison. He urges South Sudan president Salva Kiir Mayrdit to review the policy he imposed on Lakes state populations. “We three chiefs taken for arrest at Langcok were mistreated, they chained us like criminal. This is what we have seen, and those prisoners detained are being beaten - The people detained suspects of crimes are always beaten because of crime they committed,” he said. He called upon lawmakers and activists to add more pressure to stop arbitrary arrest and to sustain policy of respecting human rights. Posted in: Home<http://www.gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ctl/CategoryView/mid/519/categoryId/1/Home.aspx>, Governance<http://www.gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ctl/CategoryView/mid/519/categoryId/6/Governance.aspx> -- 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]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SouthSudanKob/CAJb14opG1YdDJMDrvB5DaR%2BktocQEbajPyqrwb_GB4T-ouDS9Q%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
