Wau court sentences 3 MPs to prison for 2012 violence

June 18, 2013 (WAU) – A special court in Wau handling the cases of those charged with involvement in violence last December sentenced three members of the Western Bahr el Ghazal state parliament to two years imprisonment on Monday.

Along with MPs Julius Benzensio, John Richard and Angelo Marchello, local youth leader Anthony Sokoni and three other young men were all sentenced to a two-year prison term. Three other MPs were found not guilty of involvement in protests and violence.

The three MPs including their colleague were arrested in December after a series of violent incidents related to the establishment of a Wau town municipality and the transfer of the administrative centre of Wau county to Bagari. Protests followed the decision, with many concerned that they would be marginalised by the move, which the government insisted was in order to deliver better services to rural areas.

The court has also convicted others eight youths to five years after they were found guilty of setting a numbers commercial business trucks on fire on 9 December 2012 and blocking the roads linking Bushere to Wau town.

Fourteen people were convicted in Monday’s sentencing, which marked the end of the special court’s proceedings after it was set up in January.

On 7 June the court sentenced 11 youths to death by hanging while the Farajalla chief, Martin Teyai, was sentenced to ten years imprisonment. A teenager, Justin Karlo, was sentenced to five years.

The sentences to death were declared by court’s final verdict according to South Sudan Penal Code, 2008 based on their acts over killing the six farmers working in Farajalla town within Bagari Payam December last year.

Speaking on Monday during verdict hearing in the court room, Judge Buga Ajwac Maker, ruled that the sentences will start from the date the suspects were arrested. All those convicted has right to appeal at any time, he said.

Western Bahr el Ghazal’s acting police commissioner, Deng Malual Maker, said that some cases remain open against suspects who have not been arrested, or have fled the state.

“The law will still take it action against them even if how much they keep on running, they will still be hand down”, he said.

However the especial court has ended its ruling on Monday with 14 sentenced to jail term, the state government stated that at least justice has been achieved despite the last year violence that claim several lives and destruction of many properties.

Eight people were shot dead by state security personnel while protesting in Wau town on 9 December. Human rights groups have called for those responsible to be held to account but the government has claimed that the security services acted to defend the bank. This has been disputed by activists and Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International or issued a joint report on the incident.

Since the shooting, the state government has insisted that security services opened fire as they were defending their position near the office of the South Sudan Central Bank. The government also claimed that the demonstrators were armed and were intending to target the bank.

However, video footage broadcast by Al-Jazeera appears to show unarmed protestors being fired on without warning.

Earlier this year, Amnesty International released a report claiming 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.

The statement said 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 those of whom mostly has been released.

“Arrests of perceived opponents of the government continue to be carried out,” the group said earlier this year.

“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 Zackaria criticised the report, describing it as unfair and biased.

He challenged the report arguing that the demonstration was not legal and that the demonstrators had not obtained a document from police.

(ST)