By Mengistu Makuei
I would like to shine the light on today’s call for the media houses by Mr. State Prosecutor to cover the hearing of “Group B” of the Sherikat hearing. By law and constitution, a prosecutor has a special duty not only imposed by their professional obligations but by the constitution itself. And they should abide by fair trial and justice. Why was the media not called during the first group’s hearing?
Today, I came across a written piece by him and I quoted him calling on the media houses to make a coverage of the hearing scheduled for “Group B”. Something that has not happen during the First Group’s hearing.
I quoted: “l would like to inform you that tomorrow we have the hearing of the prosecution case of those who killed Lual Marine in Sherikat”, Sabri Wani Lado.
What proves does he have to label Group B as those who killed Lual Marine? This is immature prediction that indicates and endeavors to influence obstruction of justice of the two generals.
To spill the bean…
It has been a month plus since Maj. Gen. Garang Akok & Brig. Gen. Majier Abdalla were put to detention by the legal prosecutor with no bail. The case has been categorized into two groups. The first, Group A are those who were involved directly in the incident that left scores dead including Lual marine. The second, Group B are those who were allegedly accused of being indirectly involved in the case. The last group consist of the two prominent army generals and several others.
In a legal profession, you don’t label a suspect guilty not until he is found guilty and the language he referred Group B as “people who killed Lual Marine” was so unethical and this may accrue to negative perception of the defendant. And this may in turn incite the public against the group that hasn’t been convicted and found guilty before the law. This is the worst case of prosecutorial misconduct. This is just the tip of an iceberg of the impending ruling.
What has raised my concern over this was; for the last few weeks, there has been weekly hearings about the case and he hasn’t publicly call on the media houses to take a coverage of the hearings not until it’s the turn of Group B. This indicates that the prosecutor has engaged in a misconduct and its “prejudice” the defendant.
Rumor has it that he has held secret meetings with the investigation Officer Col. Abdel Rajiv and their meeting, I believe has shown a signal.
It’s a constitutional right of every citizen to have a fair trial and justice, but what I’m seeing is likely going to impede the due administration of Justice. The prosecutor is acting under directives. His comment is a direct sway and attempt to wrongfully convict the defendants.
We demand justice for all the Sherikat victims. Their lives matter too.
Mengistu Makuei ([email protected])
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Talk of Juba’s editorial stance.
