Judges constituting the mobile court from the South Sudan justice ministry arrived in the Abyei Administrative Area Tuesday to try pending cases in a bid to reduce a backlog of cases there.
The court consisting of two high court judges, one county judge, and three public attorneys began its work on Thursday prioritizing capital cases.
Justice Andrew Joseph Lado, the President of the Mobile Court, said they will try all capital cases in Abyei.
“We are mobile forces coming from Juba on Tuesday from the Ministry of Justice and we are comprised of two first-class judges, two prosecutors, and two other advocates. Our mission is to clear the first level of cases compiled so far in Abyei because there were no first-class judges in Abyei since three years ago to settle cases,” Joseph said. “That is why Chief Justice Chan Reech Madut decided with support from UNDP to make us come here and asses capital cases in Abyei.”
He added that they have filed seven murder cases and five rape cases. One rape case was tried on Thursday according to him.
Justice Joseph revealed that the court has one month to try all the cases in Abyei.
Meanwhile, Abyei’s information minister Ajak Deng Miyen confirmed that the mobile court has started trying first-class cases.