Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Ruben Madol, lamented over the plight of over 300 prisoners whose cases are yet to be determined at Juba’s police divisions.
Speaking at the induction of the inspection of detention facilities in Juba, at the Central Equatorial State legal administration on Wednesday, Justice Madol argued that failure to categorize the cases as civil or criminal had taken longer, denying the suspects trial.
“It’s strange to hear that 300 cases cannot be classified as criminal or civil. Even information about the 300 cases seems to be out of the open. That is why it is important for us to ask ourselves questions as South Sudanese: do we really want to serve the people of South Sudan? Do we really want to do our jobs honestly?” he posed.
“We talk about challenges, not solutions,” he adds, “but there are some things that can be done without money or a car, and others that can be done with cars and others that don’t.”
Madol was responding to the police trusteeships after presenting the challenges that the police trusteeships have in their different divisions within Juba.
According to Head of Legal Administration and Public Prosecution Attorney, Sabri Ladu, the court system has a limited number of judges and even challenges the transportation of inmates to the courts, and some of these cases are being adjudicated.
Other issues include complaints from individuals who reside outside Juba and are unable to travel to Juba on a regular basis to attend court sessions, which has resulted in an increase in the number of inmates in Juba prisons.
“South Sudan National Prison is the only prison in the capital city of Juba that houses all suspects from different payams in Central Equatoria state,” according to Ladu.
Action needed
On Wednesday, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs directed the Legal Administration and the Public Prosecutor to develop a plan for inspecting policy custodies.
“A number of public prosecutors are deployed to work alongside the police in police detention centres,” he said.
Ladu explained that the police have reported more than 200 cases in which investigations are yet to be completed.
“We (public prosecutors) will ensure that only non-valuable people are detained, but for the rest, we will try to bail them out so that we could even decongest all the prison centers and police custody,” Ladu said.
“A team of investigators would then visit and inspect the prisons individually to ensure that we know why some of the inmates’ trials have been delayed,” says the judge. “On the issue of delay, the judge will be able to decide immediately on the ground whenever the case is brought before him to find out, for example, if the matter is over-delayed, and he may also make a decision,” says the judge.
The current number of prisoners, according to South Sudan Prison Service Director General Andrew Aguer, is 2,752 as of Wednesday morning, with 1,233 convicted and 1,519 awaiting verdict.
The goal of launching the detention facility inspection program is for the ministry of justice to inspect police custody and prison authorities to check the number of detainees and remands and thus to find out the reasons why certain inmates’ court cases are delayed along with why there are no investigations of the inmates.
Source: The City Review South Sudan
For More News And Analysis About South-Sudan Follow Africa-Press
