Police in Torit, Eastern Equatoria State, are holding 6 people for beating an SSPDF soldier to death in Lomude Village in Imotong Payam of Ikotos County.
Last week, a soldier identified as James Lokodong was beaten by a mob on suspicions of being a sorcerer. The deceased had gone to the village to attend the funeral of his uncle.
Joseph Lokolong Jenisio, the commissioner of Ikotos County, said the perpetrators of the killing have been arrested and will be tried.
“The deceased is a soldier from SSPDF and he went to the funeral of his uncle in Imotong. Unfortunately, a clique of youth said that he is a wizard and they beat him until he died,” he said. “When he died, some of the youth involved in community policing managed to arrest the killers. One of them ran to Juba but the rest are in custody.”
Commissioner Lokolong cautioned the people against taking the law into their hands and advised them to seek legal redress.
“To address this, we need to do civic education and also take Christian missionaries to preach the word of God. I think this will change the minds of the people,” he said.
Meanwhile, Oryem Emmanuel, a civil society activist in Eastern Equatoria State condemned the killing and urged the government to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to book.
“Actually beating a soldier is not correct even if they found that he is somebody who is bewitching others, they were supposed to take it to the law so that the law takes its course,” he said. “Mob justice is not good and the government needs to ensure the communities are sensitized on the issue.”